Homemade Tomato Paste and Hot Pepper Relish

 I am almost ready to pull out plants and plant the Fall garden.  I am up to my eyeballs in tomatoes and peppers of all kinds. I turned a huge pile of tomatoes into tomato paste using my slow cooker. I diced the tomatoes, threw them in the cooker and added a bit of honey, garlic cloves and some diced sweet onions.  I let it cook on high for about 4 hours then removed the lid, turned it to low and let it cook for 24 hours stirring occasionally.  Wow!  This made really good paste which I froze in snack sized bags.  I am showing 3 of them but I actually got 8 out of the batch.

 I saw this recipe on Bev's blog ( http://beehavenacres.blogspot.com/ ) this morning.  My refrigerator was loaded with peppers so I gave it a go.  I diced up all the peppers I had on hand and put them in a heavy pot.  I added some garlic cloves too.  * Do this AFTER you put your contacts in <]:o(

 I added 5 cups of apple cider vinegar and 2-1/2 cups of sugar.  And 1 tsp. of salt. I cooked it over medium heat for about 2 hours.

 Using a stick blender, I blended it just a bit, leaving about 2/3 of it in chunks.  I cooked it a bit longer until it began to thicken.

 I poured it into hot bell jars.  I didn't put them in a canning bath because I am giving some of it away and we will use the rest soon.  They sealed anyway.

Mine is dark because I had mostly jalapenos and poblanos.  This is some seriously good stuff.  Thanks so much Bev!