Beetroot Relish for Cheese, Ham and Everything Else

Method

1. Peel the beetroot and grate it coarsely, on a box grater or in a food processor.
2. Finely dice the onion, grate the apple and grate the ginger.
3. Put the vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, salt and allspice in a wide, heavy based pan over medium heat.
4. Stir until every grain of sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil.
5. Add the beetroot, onion, apple and ginger, and stir to coat.
6. Bring back to a simmer, then cook uncovered on a low heat for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes so the base does not catch.
7. Test it at 40 minutes. A spoon drawn across the base should leave a channel that holds for 2 seconds.
8. Off the heat, stir through the caramelised balsamic if you are using it.
9. Taste, and add a pinch more salt if the sweetness is sitting flat.
10. While it cooks, wash the jars in hot soapy water and dry them in a 120°C oven for 15 minutes. Simmer the lids for 5 minutes.
11. Ladle the hot relish into the hot jars, leaving 5mm at the top, and seal straight away.
12. Label with the date and leave it 2 weeks before opening. Beetroot needs far less mellowing than a tomato relish does.

What to put it next to

Beetroot relish is earthy and sweet, so it wants salt and acid beside it. Goat's cheese is the classic answer and a sharp aged cheddar the reliable one. It is very good with cold roast beef, better than most people expect with smoked salmon, and it is what saves the third day of leftover Christmas ham from tasting like the second. On a board, put it in a small bowl with its own spoon, away from anything pale that it will bleed into.

For crackers, the beetroot flatbread from Valley Produce Company doubles down on the colour and looks deliberate on a platter, while plain crackerthins stay out of the way, and both sit under $5. If it is the whole board you are assembling rather than one jar, our guide to building a cheese board covers the ratios. It is the same thinking behind the way we build our Christmas hampers: something sharp in a jar earns its place next to the cheese and the crackers.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between relish and chutney?

Cut, cook time and patience. A relish is coarsely cut, simmered under an hour, vinegar forward, and edible within a fortnight. A chutney is cooked longer and softer, usually carries dried fruit and warm spice, and needs a few months in a dark cupboard before the flavours knit together. Our Bill's Spicy Pear Chutney is the second kind; the recipe above is firmly the first.

What cheese goes with beetroot relish?

Anything salty and fresh, or anything hard and aged. Goat's cheese and Persian fetta are the natural fits, because their tang cuts straight through the sweetness. A three year old cheddar works for the same reason from the opposite direction. Blue cheese can go either way: a mild gorgonzola is lovely, a strong roquefort will fight it. Brie is the one pairing we would skip.

How long does homemade beetroot relish keep?

About 12 months in a cool dark cupboard if it went into sterilised jars hot and every lid pulled down as it cooled, and roughly 6 weeks in the fridge once a jar is open. If a lid has not sealed, put that jar at the front of the cupboard and use it first.

When the pan is not happening

We do not stock a beetroot relish. What we do stock is Bill's Beetroot Marmalade, $16.95 for 380g, made by a small Tasmanian kitchen and one of the most popular jars on our condiment shelf. It is smoother and sweeter than the recipe here, with the ginger pushed forward, and it goes somewhere a relish does not: through scrambled eggs, alongside roast pork. We taste everything we range, and that one earns its shelf.

It sits with the chutneys, mustards and relishes of The Regimental Condiment Company range in the same room in Corio where we pack hampers by hand. Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched that day, and shipping is free Australia-wide over $100.