There are always people on your gift list who are difficult to find something that they can use, as many people already have everything they need or want. When I was working, I liked to give gifts that I had canned or made in my kitchen. These gifts were always a hit for a hostess gift, birthday or (I hesitate to mention) Christmas. A jar of salsa, beet pickles, corn relish, strawberry rhubarb jam, grape jelly, fudge sauce, apple butter or any other foods that are colorful in a gift basket or pretty box is fun to give and even more fun to receive. A while back I gave a recipe for Texas Caviar that is just put in a jar and not canned and given with a bag of Scoops. The recipe for corn relish is canned and you may use frozen corn if fresh sweet corn is not available.

Iowa Corn Relish

20 Ears of sweet corn (2 1/2 quarts of kernels)

1 Cup chopped green pepper

1 Cup chopped sweet red pepper

1 1/4 Cup chopped onion

1 Cup diced celery

1 1/2 Cups sugar

2 2/3 Cups vinegar

2 Cups water

1 1/2 Tablespoons mustard seed

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Teaspoon celery seed

1/2 Teaspoon ground turmeric

1. Boil corn for five minutes, plunge into cold water and cut kernels from the cobs.

2. Combine corn and all other ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Pack in clean hot pint jars, leaving one inch of head space, process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Yields 6-7 pints.

Questions or comments:

marlisz@aol.com