Are you an eggplant lover looking for a way to can this delectable veggie? Here I share one of my favorite Russian relishes, gvetch. Making home canned gvetch is one of the best ways to preserve eggplant and enjoy it year round. 
Do You Love Eggplant?
To an English speakers ears, gvetch sounds like something you might hork up. It’s not, I promise. Gvetch is the most wonderful eggplant, pepper and tomato relish you’ve ever put in your mouth. Or, it will be, once you make it. The Russians call relish “salat” and they eat it on pretty much anything.
I lived as a missionary in Russia in my early twenties. Twenty years later, I can still taste the salats I was served on crackers, bread and just spooned from the jar. For a Russian woman, food preservation is a normal part of their year. They put up everything they possibly can so they’re able to nourish their families during the long, cold winters. Good, healthy food is such a beautiful tradition. I often think back to those women who opened up their kitchens to me. I still love them fiercely, even through all these years.
You Can’t Safely Can Eggplant
The fact is, there are no approved, safe canning recipes for eggplant in contemporary American canning books. What’s an eggplant lover to do?
The other problem I’ve run into personally is that no one else in my family likes eggplant. What, seriously, is wrong with these people?! So, I have to hide my eggplant in gvetch and be content to eat it up every year with thankfulness.
If you’d like to know how to freeze eggplant, just click here.
To learn to dehydrate eggplant (and a few other methods), try this post.
Gvetch – An Eggplant Recipe
This recipe is very adaptable and each Russian mother probably has her own version. I pressure can my gvetch so that I can safely add carrots, which is how I ate it in Russia.
If you want to be able to water-bath can something similar to gvetch, try this recipe for caponota. Caponata is the Italian version of gvetch but has tomato paste and vinegar to make it safe to water-bath can. I like caponata a lot, but it’s not gvetch. I make both recipes most years.
Gvetch - An Eggplant Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 onions chopped
- 4 medium sized peppers chopped and seeded
- 3 medium sized eggplants chopped
- 3 large carrots chopped or grated
- 3 medium sized zucchini or summer squash
- whole peeled tomatoes - about two pounds, or 30 Roma sized tomatoes cut into chunks
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon each basil, oregano and thyme OR, herbs to taste
Instructions
- Sautee chopped onion and garlic in about one tablespoon of oil until the onions are opaque.
- Add peppers and saute with about five minutes.
- Put in the eggplant, carrots and squash and saute until soft.
- Now add the tomatoes. You can used canned, if you'd like. I usually make this in the summer when tomatoes are abundant so I use fresh Romas, or a similar variety.
- Cook together until everything is very soft and you're able to mash the eggplant with a potato masher. You want any large pieces mashed down to smaller bits. It should look very relish-y. If you want it smooth, use an immersion blender.
- Add spices and let it simmer for five more minutes. Taste and adjust spices, as needed. Remember, though, that spices in canned items get a stronger flavor over time. So, don't go crazy.
- Ladle into clean, hot jars, leave head space of 1", and process quarts for 40 minutes in a pressure canner, adjusting for your altitude. If you use pint jars, you may reduce the time to 30 minutes.
Notes
- Did you use all fresh ingredients? If so, the volume of water in these will be higher than in dehydrated or previously canned items like tomato paste. The more water = the more bulk in the gvetch.
- How long did you simmer the batch? Tomato based canning recipes, like anything simmered, will loose more water the longer you cook them. You don't want this relish to become too dense or it will not heat all the way through and, therefore, won't heat to the center to properly preserve it.
- Did you fudge and fiddle with the listed amounts because you used what you had? No worries, but that, too, can change the volume of the finished product.
Canning times roughly taken from the NCHFP’s article on canning tomato and okra, FYI.
Canning Gvetch with Kids
Involve the kids in this process because there is a lot of chopping for this recipe. Knife skills are really important to master if you want your children to become competent cooks. As you chop together, talk about why you bother with all this canning of fresh, wholesome food every year. Share with them your passion for healthy eating and your love for them.
You love them so much you can all summer so that they can eat quality food all winter! If that’s not love, I don’t know what is. That’s something they’ll remember, even if you end up with that one kid who refuses to preserve anything once they’re older.
To learn how to keep the kids safe and you sane in the canning kitchen, please click here.
How to Eat your Eggplant Gvetch
If you’re new to the idea of vegetable relishes, here are a few ideas for using up your gvetch.
Canning Eggplant with Gvetch Resources
Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe from Starter, Plus Sourdough Starter Tips
Zacusca! A tasty way to preserve eggplants
Free Sample
Don’t forget to email me for that FREE sample from The Do It Yourself Homestead
This sounds delicious! We make something similar in our Russian heritage but call it “eekra”… I will have to try canning your recipe on our next eggplant harvest! My grandmother used to can hers but I don’t think she followed any rules 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post, Jes! How have you been?
I’ll bet every Russian grandma has their own way of doing it and each is delicious. I watched one of my friends make it once and she certainly wasn’t using a recipe. It was hard trying to create one, I’ll tell you that! I think it tastes different every season. But, regardless, I’m transported every time I eat it. Those were the days…
I really want to try this, I haven’t heard of it before.
I hope you’ll enjoy it! The only real way to can eggplant is mixed in with other veggies. I didn’t even think I liked eggplant until I lived in Russia and ate it a lot in late summer.
This sounds delicious. At what pressure do you can this?
It is, indeed, delicious! You’ll need to follow the instructions for your particular canner for safety’s sake. For further information on canning safety, please visit The National Center for Home Food Preservation.
I was looking for a way to can some eggplant from the garden ans stumbled across this recipe. This is seriously delicious! I will definitely be making this on an ongoing basic for my canning staples! We ate this just on the side with some roasted turkey, but it would be fabulous so many ways, on pasta or rice, as a dip, hot dog topping, or just as a veggie side with a main meal.
Thanks for sharing!
SO glad you enjoyed it! It’s really one of my favorite summer preserves and it goes with everything. Those Russian mamas are smarties!
This recipe sounds delicious & I am excited to use it to preserve my harvest! I have done a little pressure canning & most recipes usually give different processing times for pints & quarts. What size jars are you processing for 40-45 minutes? Also, approximately how many jars does your recipe make?
I’m so glad you asked because I neglected to be specific – my apologies! I’ve adjusted the recipe but depending on how long you simmer, whether your ingredients were fresh and all that jazz, you can plan on under half a dozen quarts with these product amounts. This is the kind of recipe that you can play around with and I seem to use different amounts all the time, though the veggies stay the same. The Russian mom who taught me the recipe told me she always made it with whatever they had the most of in the garden, plus tomatoes and eggplant.
As far as time goes, pretty standard processing for tomato based mix in a pressure canner: 35-40 minutes for quarts, 35-30 minutes for pints. I have an electric stove (grrrr!!!), so I give myself a window of time since I don’t have a responsive flame control like you do on a gas stovetop.
Did that help? More confused? Let me know if I didn’t give you what you needed and I’ll do better! I hope you enjoy the recipe – we run out by this time every year and I’m starting to hear complaints. Need to get to this as soon as the tomatoes come on!
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe! Is it possible to use a water bath canning method?
So glad you liked the recipe! Unfortunately, this recipe is safe only when done in a pressure canner. I hope you like it!
I just water bath 12 half pints. How long will they keep? Came out deliciously.
Because it was canned in a water bath canner the only safe way to store it is in the refrigerator and it will last about a week. To make a shelf stable product, you can use a pressure canner next time as outlined in the instructions for the recipe. So glad you liked the flavor – it’s one of my favorites!!
Did you peel the eggplant and zucchini and squash or did you leave the skins on ??
I always leave the skins on because I’m super lazy! However, you can peel them, if you prefer. Many people dislike the flavor of eggplant skin, though I find it’s not discernable in this recipe at all. Hope that helps!
I will freeze it rather than pressure can. Do you have freezing advice? Thanks – This is perfect for end of garden produce I have at the moment. I would use freezers bags likely.
You can really freeze it any way you’d like – sliced, cubed, in rounds, or as a puree. You’ll want to blanch it to stop the enzymes from ripening the eggplant any further. Or, you can roast it, which has the added benefit of removing excess moisture. You can also cook it into a favorite recipe and freeze the whole meal! Skinning it isn’t necessary but some people don’t care for the flavor of the skin. I usually just keep the skin on, but if I were freezing, I’d try a batch with and a batch without skin to see if the flavor was adversely effected by keeping the skin on. I have to confess, I’ve never had enough leftover to freeze AND make gvetch with, so I always choose gvetch!
I hope that helps? Let me know if you need more assistance.
Could you please specify what kind of peppers you used?
Totally up to you! If you like heat, do a combination of sweet peppers and hot peppers like cayenne. If you don’t like spice, omit the cayenne and stick with sweet bell peppers. Banana peppers do nicely in this recipe, too.
Hope that helps!
This looks delicious and I’ve learnt a new word today – Gvetch!
It’s a great word to know – thanks for stopping by!
What pressure? 5 pounds or 10 pounds for 49 minute’s
Great question! The answer depends on your elevation. You can check the manual that came with your pressure canner to be sure. If you’d like more guidance, my friend Laurie has an easy to read chart here, or you can check with your local extension office.
It looks good – but poison sometimes does. If you stop telling people to can this – yes, am professional on food poisoning – it would be good frozen. Or kept in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. Frozen would be best . but canning? NOPE. Eggplant doesn’t have the right density for canning, regardless of other ingredients, and the middle of the jars do NOT reach the needed temperature to make the food safe. YIKES. Please stop telling people to go eat something that could hospitalize or kill them, and change the recipe.
People do get sick from disregarding professional advice on home canned soup. The University of Florida Extension provides these American figures for 5 years from 2008 to 2013 [12] :
2008. West Virginia, home canned sausage soup (1 deceased from botulism)
2009. California, home canned soup. (1 case of botulism)
2011. California, home canned soup. (1 case of botulism)
2011. California, home canned potato soup. (1 case of botulism)
2011. Georgia, home canned potato soup. (1 case of botulism)
2012. New Jersey, home canned soup. (1 case of botulism)
Thanks for your passionate response! Food chemistry has certainly evolved over the years, as a profession such as “food poisoning expert” clearly demonstrates. If you’d like to respond with your credentials for other readers, please feel free.
You’re correct that there are no official (as in from extensions or from places like the NCHFP) tested recipes for canning eggplant on its own due in part to, as you say, density. Ball and several other canning guides have recipes that include eggplant, however. The eggplant is usually peeled and blended with other ingredients.
Since eggplant typically does have the proper pH for pressure canning from the sources I’ve seen, I’m guessing that the lack of testing is more due to the fact that there aren’t hordes of people clamoring to preserve eggplant (along with the density issue).
Because I’ve gotten into the habit of pH testing my tomato based sauces and because this is a very blended sauce, I will continue to make it. However, people are welcome to review your comments and make their own decision.
If you prefer, you could make the sauce and eat it right away, and/or freeze it.
This article from Simply Canning may offer even more insight, for those interested: Canning Eggplant
Thanks for stopping by!
Do you think I could sub out the fresh tomatoes with home canned tomatoes? My tomatoes didn’t do well this year and what I did get is already put up. How much canned tomatoes would I use?
Yes, you can substitute canned tomatoes for fresh! Start with 1-28 oz can and cook it with everything else. Taste it and see if you’d like to add more tomato flavor. If it were me, I would probably add 2-28 oz cans total.
Since the last tested recipes that are similar to this one are from at least a decade ago, you may decide you’d like to test the pH of the finished product just for curiosity’s sake. You’ll need to pressure can this recipe, regardless, but you might want to know the pH level before you can it up. Here’s one article that explains pH testing, and one article that outlines another kind of pH testing (which is not approved in official circles but which might satisfy any curiosity you have).
Did that help? Still have questions? Just let me know!
I found this recipe in 2019, and have been using modified versions ever since! It is absolutely delicious! We mostly eat it with tortilla chips, but it’s slsogreat as a sauce, casserole ingredient, soup base, and straight out of the jar, with a spoon! I grow a glut of eggplant every year and i would be throwing so much out without this recipe!. I’ve even converted several eggplant haters! It’s amazing with smoked paprika!
Oooh, smoked paprika would be amazing! I eat it with a spoon, too. It’s super good on naan or any flatbread. It’s my secret ingredient added to spaghetti sauce. I would how it would be added to chili. Hmm…
Thanks for stopping by!
This looks amazing! I have a ton of the little eggplants growing in my garden and have enjoyed them fresh but don’t want to waste the remainder. I have frozen a bunch already and was looking for another way to preserve them, this is definitely it! Thank you for a well written recipe and article! Also, want to add that you rocked the way you handled the canning fear monger in the comments. I understand their words of caution but for years I held off canning because I would read stuff like that and get scared that I couldn’t do it safely. Along my path I read enough fear mongering that I got wore out from it and decided to just try. Best decision I ever made!!! Canning is a must for everyone, even if you don’t garden. The grocery store always has fantastic deals on veggies/fruits that can be preserved for when the prices aren’t so great. Any beginner reading this I encourage you to pick up a Ball canning book and just try one water bath recipe. It will open your eyes to the possibilities.
So glad you found a use for all those little eggplants! Yes, the fear mongers are slightly silly in their panic but it’s good to be cautious regardless. You just have to take it all with a grain of salt.
Your encouragement to new canners is much appreciated! Beginning is the hardest part – it’s all downhill after that, right? Have a lovely day!
To make this using water bath canning, you must raise the acid content. You do this by adding any where from 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar or citrus juice. For details on how to waterbath can tomatoes and tomato products, consult the New Mexico State University extension services, http://www.nmsu.edu
Just make sure to add enough ‘acid’ and you’re good to go. Even with eggplant!
You’ll also find a receipt for Eggplant Salsa from http://www.healthycanning.com, which is from Canadian Living home canning book (2012) and has been lab-tested by them to meet Bernardin / USDA safety standards. Note that it requires .75 cup red wine vinegar, 5% or higher, 6 oz. It’s pretty much the same receipt as you offer, which is not unexpected given that it’s coming to us from Canada, home of more Ukrainians than you can shake a stick at. Add acid to low-acid vegetables to make them waterbath safe.