Riffling Through—and Interpreting—Old “Mango” Recipes

Because we got so many varicolored peppers in this week’s share, my mom called me looking for an old recipe for relish made from mangoes—an old name for sweet peppers—that she had given me. It took a little while, but I found it typed on its original 3 x 5 index card, probably from the 1960s. I sent it to her, and then decided I’d put it on the blog, too. It’s quite succinct, but I’ll warn you—a fifty-year-old recipe needs a little interpretation, which follows. Also, I’ve halved the recipe (it originally called for two dozen “mangoes”) but you can easily double this if the peppers keep coming.

Uphouse[1] Mango[2] Relish

1 dozen red and green MANGOES (soak in HOT water[3])
8 lg. onions[4]
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. white mustard seed
1/2 Tbsp. celery seed
1 cup white vinegar

Put all peppers thru food chopper with a large knife[5] and cover with boiling water[6]. Let stand 10 minutes. Add onions and rest of ingredients. Cook 10 minutes and seal hot[7].

1. My grandparents’ neighbors were called the Uphouses, and as a kid I assumed it was because they lived in a house up at the top of my grandparents’ yard, but it turns out their name actually was “Uphouse.”
2. When I was a kid, we didn’t have green peppers; they were called mangoes. I’m told that no one around here ever ate tropical mangoes, but as green peppers turned orange and red, they looked a little like those tropical fruit, and so they got the name. I expect a few people still call them mangoes, but this mango relish uses green and red peppers. I’m sure you can substitute purple and white peppers as well.
3. I don’t know what this direction means. Do you soak them before you chop them, or after? I just don’t know.
4. My guess is you want to chop the onions, too.
5. A food chopper with a large knife—sounds like a proto-food processor, so I’m assuming you could chop them, pulsing before they turn to mush, or use a knife or some other chopping device.
6. How much boiling water? Hmmm. To cover. And it never says to drain the water. Do you? Or do you just throw in the sugar, salt, seeds, and vinegar on top of that water? Another mystery.
7. Seal hot is concise shorthand for a canning process—you want to put the hot mixture in sterilized jars, put on the lids and rings, and then put the jars in a boiling water bath. Since it has vinegar in the mixture, you don’t need to pressure can the relish, as it’s acidic. Probably best to leave it in the boiling water bath for 5 to 10 minutes. When you take the jars out, you should hear them click as the seal forms.

If you expect to eat the relish with a couple of weeks, you can probably safely put it in sterilized jars and refrigerate it without canning. And let me know if you figure out the hot water soak and whether or not to drain the boiling water. I’ll probably give it a try at some point, so if I figure it out I’ll post an addendum to this blog entry, too. One final note: As I recall, this relish is really delicious, well worth trying with our large "mango" harvest.