Cucamelon Apple Cider Vinegar Relish

So, why cucamelon relish? Why apple cider vinegar relish? Why not!

I spent hours searching the internet for a cucamelon relish recipe. Cucamelons are also known as mouse melons. I grew a healthy harvest of them in my garden, much more than I wanted to eat in salads, popping them whole into my mouth, or dipping them in hummus. You kind of get tired of them after a while. There’s only so much you can do with them, really.

Anyway, I couldn’t find a recipe, so it made sense to modify a regular cucumber relish recipe.

Only thing is, I don’t tolerate white vinegar well. So then I had to search for an apple cider vinegar cucumber relish recipe, which was easier to find. And of course, I put my own spin on it, according to my dietary needs and what I wanted to add. I actually consulted 3 different recipes, merging and modifying them.

If you’re not accustomed to apple cider vinegar, you may find this a bit strong at first.

I chopped up the cucamelons in a food processor. The first time I made a small batch, I chopped them by hand. I don’t recommend that time-consuming method.

Then I put them in a small casserole bowl, covered them with the Himalayan rock salt (instead of picking salt), and put the bowl in the fridge. Leaving it in the fridge for 2-4 hours is plenty, although I ended up leaving it overnight.

Some recipes say to cover in cold water and others don’t. I didn’t.

Some recipes say to drain it afterwards (don’t rinse), while others indicate you don’t have to drain. I didn’t drain it. (If you decide to drain, you’ll want to set the drained liquid aside and add it back into the apple cider vinegar mixture after you first bring it to a boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes. I didn’t do this, so I haven’t added it to the recipe below. Remember, I’m lazy and like to keep things simple.)

I decided to use coconut palm sugar in place of regular sugar. Coconut palm sugar has a lower glycemic index, so is much healthier than refined sugar. It can still cause me to have a Candida flare-up, so I use it only on rare occasions. I would have preferred to use something like Swerve or Monkfruit sugar replacement, but I wasn’t sure if it would affect the ability to preserve, so I stuck with the coconut palm sugar.

I used a glass pot to boil the mixture because I thought metal shouldn’t be used. At the time, I didn’t realize that it’s okay to use stainless steel. Other metals not so much because it can cause reactivity and a metallic taste can leach into your mixture.

I absolutely love this relish and am so pleased with how it turned out! I add it to a lot of things for extra flavor, including rice and hummus. I’d love to know what you think of it if you decide to try it yourself.

Edit: I’m not an expert at canning. I learned just enough from the internet to get this cucamelon relish canned.

I know you need to sterilize the jars and lids in a hot bath, and you need to use a pot that is non-reactive.

Here’s a link I recently found that gives good instructions on how to properly do the canning process. As you’ll see in the recipe below, I did not put the jars back into the boiling water after I filled them and my jars sealed just fine, and I also didn’t use new lids. Oops.

But if you want to learn to do it properly, you may want to check out this article:
https://www.eatingwell.com/article/15855/10-steps-to-water-bath-canning/