Grandma's Relish Tray
 

Remember that classic relish tray that your grandmother served. It had a bunch of stuff that as a kid, you would never touch in a million years. Now, I need to serve one of those trays. What were some of the items that you had in your family relish tray?

One thing that was always on my Gramma's tray was pickled watermelon rind. I think that she made it herself. I tasted it once, blech! I couldn't finish it. I may like it now.

Pickled peaches and pickled beets

Celery & carrot sticks, cucumber slices, pickles (beet, bread & butter, dill), pimento olives. Today it might be called a “charcuterie board” and include cheese cubes, pickled herring & salami slices.

LOL, after my dad died we were looking at old family pictures. There was a picture of my sister's birthday party, she was no more than 5. All the little kids sitting around our dining room table, front and center is a relish tray!! I'm sure it was a big hit with the pre-schoolers!

Hmmm.. Carrots sticks, celery sticks, black and green olives and pickles. There was always another tray with cheeses and salami and crackers.

Celery, carrots, pickles, olives and sometimes cherry tomatoes.

Always the fancy sweet baby Gherkin pickles, they were always a favorite and a treat served only at the Holidays.

homemade pickles...usually dill, bread and butter, beet, watermelon, and crabapple
veggies...usually, celery curls, ripple cut carrot sticks, radish roses, green onions, cucumber wheels
olives, both black and stuffed green
dip for the veggies...usually miracle whip with dill
pickled herring, salami, and sliced cheeses

I was a child of the 50's. The relish tray served by my Mom was always in a Fostoria fancy dish. Celery, carrots, sweet and dill pickles, green and black olives and pickled cauliflower. The meal started out with either tomato juice or fruit cocktail. My parents were children of the Depression so I think these small touches (by today's standards) made it feel like abundance.

I too was a 50's child!! The relish tray was an important part of holiday meals. My Mom had a cut glass one . She would put pickles, olives, cheese and stuffed dates. For the stuffed dates she would take whole pitted dates (they generally have a slit down the side) and put a walnut in the center then roll it in powdered sugar. I never touched the other stuff but I loved the dates!!

Black olives for my father, green olives for me and little sweet gherkin pickles were standard fare plus celery and carrots.

And don’t forget the little white pickled onions. : 0

Pickled cauliflower

we had the carrots celery pickles and deviled eggs. cheese tray crackers separate tray.

For us, a spectacular relish tray included green and black olives.

The black olives were what made it "special" - but carrots, celery, and sweet and dill pickles were also usually included.

The best thing that I remember about the relish tray when I was a little kid were the pitted, black olives. My cousins and I would love to put them on our fingers and pop them off, one by one, into our mouths. My grandfather would look at us in horror. Bad table manners, but great fun!

We have been buying a "mediterranean mix" of lightly marinated/pickled veggies from Costco but they are no longer carrying it. I found a recipe that duplicates it perfectly. One half cup each of sea salt and vinegar added to 12 cups of water. Bring to a boil then turn off the heat. Add carrots, celery, cauliflower, cukes, peppers, green beans, fennel, turnips, radishes.... cut into chunks. Let sit overnight then store in fridge. Ready to eat after a couple of days. Great for a relish tray.

I don't remember a relish tray in my growing up years! We must have had one though.

When my 3 boys were little they used to put black olives on their fingers and call them "fatta fingers" pronounced fah-ta and of course wiggle them. I have no idea who started it or why they called it that but we all still laugh whenever we have black olives haha :)

another 50's kid here, a relish tray was always a part of our special dinners and we always had a salad too.

I always like pickled beets and sweet pickles, or more particularly gherkins. Olives is one of the places where my hubby's keto diet and my son's vegan diet intersect -- there and mushrooms.

And yes, my cousins and I all did the black olives on the fingers as kids in the 60s and still as adults we have at least two cans of jumbo black olives.

At least in other years...