Forest Honey & Kamokamo Relish
This relish is an easy recipe for beginners, even if you have never canned a thing in your life
Use this delicious relish as an accompaniment with cold meats, especially corned or pickled meat in sandwiches. You can also use it to spice up some of your favourite dishes.
Recipe by Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ
Ingredients
18 cups kamokamo kōtawa, chopped in chunks
6 cups onion chopped in chunks
3 litres water
1 ¾ cup salt
1 c plain white flour
2 T dry mustard
2 T curry powder
1 T turmeric
1 good tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cups Manawa Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Forest Honey
2 litres malt vinegar
Directions
Chop kamokamo and onions into chunks of about 10-15mm across and place in a large non-metallic bowl or basin.
Dissolve salt in the water and pour over the vegetables. Leave overnight.
Drain vegetables well and then place in a large saucepan.
Cover vegetables with the vinegar and add the Manawa Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Forest Honey and the spices.
Bring to a simmer then cook for 10 minutes uncovered.
Mix flour and some additional vinegar to get a smooth cream, and add this slowly whilst stirring to the pickle to thicken it.
Simmer for another 3-5 minutes, to ensure the relish has entirely thickened, stirring from time to time to avoid sticking to the pan.
Put into warm sterilised jars and and cover tightly.
Keep for at least 2 weeks before using. Makes 12 x 500ml jars or 17 x 350 ml jars.
Notes
Kamokamo is a type of pumpkin that goes orange with a very thick hard skin when mature. Whilst we love to eat kamokamo in this state, we prefer them when they are at the young immature stage, still green, well before the hard skin develops. This is what we call kotawa. We use kotawa for a steamed or boiled vegetable, that makes a spectacular mash with potato, kumara or pumpkin.
If you do not have kamokamo kotawa then you can use other vegetables such as cauliflower, shallots, courgettes, and beans.
We used Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Forest Honey, with a full deep flavour, to complement the mustard and other spices in this relish. You could also use Rewarewa or Tāwari Honey if you have it instead.
We like the deep colour and taste given the relish by malt vinegar but you can use white vinegar if you prefer a lighter colour. To hold with the lighter colour, I would use Tāwari Honey rather than a darker honey alternative.
This recipe makes a big batch of relish because that’s what we need for our home – we just love it as condiment for any cut of meat, with tomatoes and other vegetables, and with cheeses. We also find that we have so much kamokamo coming from the garden that this is a good way to use it! If you want to make a smaller batch just half the ingredients but keep to the same directions for this recipe – do not half the brine soaking or cooking time.
This recipe brings you the best of a mustard pickle where the vegetables are prepared and cooked to keep some crunch, along with the best of a tasty relish from the balance of the honey sweet and spices.