Relish

A relish is a cooked and pickled product, made of chopped vegetable or fruit; as a food item typically used as a condiment, in particular to enhance a staple. In North America, the word relish is frequently used to describe a single variety of relish — the green, pickle or dill relish, made from finely chopped pickled cucumbers. Such relish is commonly used as a condiment, and is an important ingredient in many varieties of the U.S. version of tartar sauce.

It originated in India and has since become popular throughout the world. Examples are jams, chutneys, and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with hot dogs or hamburgers.

The item generally consists of discernible vegetable or fruit pieces in a sauce, although the sauce is subordinate in character to the vegetable or fruit pieces. It might consist of a single type of vegetable or fruit, or a combination of these. These fruits or vegetables might be coarsely or finely chopped, but generally a relish is not as smooth as a sauce-type condiment, such as ketchup. The overall taste sensation might be sweet or savory, hot or mild, but it is always a strong flavor that complements or adds to the primary food item with which it is served.

Relish probably came about from the need to preserve vegetables in the winter. In India (where the preparation originated from), this generally includes either vegetables, herbs or fruits.

In the United States, the most common commercially available relishes are made from pickled cucumbers and are known in the food trade as pickle relishes. Two variants of this are hamburger relish (pickle relish in a ketchup base or sauce) and hotdog relish (pickle relish in a mustard base or sauce). Other readily available commercial relishes in the United States include corn (maize) relish. Heinz, Vlasic, and Claussen are well known in the United States as producers of pickled cucumbers and pickle relishes.

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