With a shorter cooking time than chutney, sweetcorn relish keeps its crunch

This lovely chunky relish is particularly excellent on burgers and hotdogs – just the thing for a barbecue. Because of their short cooking time, the veg in relishes have a lovely crisp texture, but this does mean that they won’t store as long as other preserves such as chutney. Keep this in the fridge and eat within two weeks.

Sweetcorn relish

Makes 3 jars
1 onion, finely diced
Raw kernels from 3 sweetcorn cobs
1⁄2 red pepper, finely diced
1⁄2 green pepper, finely diced
1⁄2 orange pepper, finely diced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
300ml cider vinegar
125g granulated sugar

you will need:
3 sterilised jars, vinegar-resistant lids, and labels

Put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan and heat gently, stirring. When the sugar has dissolved, simmer for 15 mins, stirring every now and then to prevent it sticking and burning. When the liquid has thickened and coated the vegetables, spoon them into the sterilised jars and top each with a little of the cooking liquid. Seal and leave to cool.

Turn to page 38 of August's The Simple Things for more of our staple foods feature on sweetcorn from Lia Leendertz.