Six Amazing Amish Summer Recipes

I love corn on the cob. Salted, slathered with butter, man, it doesn't get any better But I stumbled upon this homemade corn relish in the Amish community of Clare, Michigan once. It was so, so, so good. I'm not really sure how corn relish is intended to be eaten, but I just shoveled it up with corn chips and, wow, it was amazing. So when I think of Amish summer food, I often start with the corn relish. Good stuff!

Homemade corn relish from an Amishfarmstand

AMISH SUMMER CORN RELISH

Kernels from 12 ears of sweet corn

1 head of green cabbage, shredded

6 bell peppers, seeded and finely diced ¼ cup salt

2 ribs of celery, diced

1 pint of vinegar

1 teaspoon of celery seed

PREP TIME: 1 hour

Mix together in a large nonreactive pot. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook 30 minutes. Put into sterilized jars and store in a cool place or chill and serve immediately.

Swiss Dressing

4 slices of bacon, cut into pieces and crumbled

1 tablespoon flour

Pinch of salt

⅓ cup sugar

½ cup water

⅓ cup vinegar

4 fresh green onions, chopped

2 boiled eggs, diced

Fresh lettuce leaves from the garden or 1 head of store-bought lettuce

DIRECTIONS: In a skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from the skillet to a paper towel lined plate, but reserve the grease in the skillet. Brown the flour and salt in hot bacon grease over medium heat. Have the sugar, vinegar and water stirred together and ready to pour into the flour when nice and brown. Be careful so it doesn’t bubble over. Keep stirring the mixture. Cook a minute or so until it thickens. When the dressing is cooled off, you may want to add a bit of cream or milk if it is too thick. Pour over lettuce leaves that have been torn into bite-sized pieces. Add bacon, eggs and onions and toss lettuce.

Green Tomato Jam

6 cups ground green tomatoes

4 cups sugar

6 ounces raspberry or strawberry gelatin

DIRECTIONS: In a large mixing bowl, mix green tomatoes and sugar. Boil over medium heat for 20 minutes. Add gelatin. Remove from heat and stir well. Put into sterilized jars and seal.