RELISH

vegetable side dish that is eaten in small quantities with a blander main dish to pique the appetite by its contrasting texture and spicy or piquant taste. Relishes are frequently finely cut vegetables or fruit in sour, sweet-sour, or spicy sauce. The Indonesian and Malaysian sambal (q.v.), Indian chutney (q.v.), achar, and raita, and Korean kimchi are relishes that accompany virtually every meal in their respective cuisines. Lombardy in Italy specializes in mostarda di frutta, a melange of fruits preserved in a sweet syrup, sharp with mustard. In the Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine of the United States, seven sweets and seven sours traditionally were served, among them many that are favourites throughout the country: pickled cucumbers, onions, beets, crabapples, watermelon rind, and such mixtures of chopped vegetables as piccalilli and chow chow.