Do you like hot dogs? How about hamburgers?

I love them both and one of the condiments I like to use on them is relish. For hamburgers I can enjoy burgers with or without relish, but I really relish a hot dog with some relish on it. I guess part of my love of relish goes back to my childhood days, eating hot dogs with bright yellow mustard, bright red ketchup, and the bright green relish. The colour combination was pretty standard whenever I had hot dogs and I still like that combination today.

Now, here in Japan getting ketchup is easy at any supermarket. Recently (say the last 5 years or so), getting yellow mustard has also been pretty easy. But relish is another matter. It is possible to find at some stores, but it can be hit or miss and when you do find it, the portions tend to be very small.

Luckily, making relish is pretty easy. With a few simple ingredients, I started making my relish yesterday. My relish includes cucumbers, onions, and peppers (green, red and chilli).

Yesterday I chopped up the vegetables and salted them. Today, I mixed them up with some spices, vinegar and salt and put the relish into hot jars and sealed them. A good recipe for relish can be found here.

This small batch of relish should last me the year, seeing I’m the only one who eats it in my house (more for me, yay!). Summer - check!, relish - check!, bring on the hot dogs!!