Edible Food Find: Rascal Relish
Photos by Michael Piazza
While living in Portland, Oregon, in 2015, Sarah Carlisle was a member of a cooperative garden and ended up with a rather abundant tomato harvest, so she sought all creative inspiration to make the most of her surplus. One result was a savory tomato jam.
Over a decade later, and after a move back to the East Coast, Carlisle’s hobby has evolved into her small business, Rascal Relish, offering craft condiments and pickles for the local community.
“I have been canning and jamming since I was a kid,” she says. From late 2020 into 2021, she started working alongside local farmers to utilize their “seconds,” fruits that don’t reach the visual or structural standards for full-priced sales to restaurants and consumers. To Carlisle, these are hidden gems as they can be reimagined into jams, spreads and condiments. The burst of fruit flavor and freshness is there, while the fruit’s outward appearance is made irrelevant.
The Spiced Tomato Spread is Rascal Relish’s original version. An 8-ounce jar features about a pound of fresh tomatoes, warming spices, organic sugar, molasses, salt and lime juice. The ingredients are cooked down on the stove to create a flavor-packed sweet-and-savory spread. A jar can upgrade most things from a simple burger or sandwich or make a refined accompaniment on a charcuterie board.
The Smoky Spiced Tomato Spread is a second version that has an added kick of spice and some richness with the addition of chili flakes and molasses. This spread channels more of a barbecue vibe, perfect at a cookout or slathered on grilled fare.
Rascal Relish’s BB Pickle Relish stems from a James Beard bread-and-butter pickle recipe. Carlisle turned her favorite pickle recipe into a relish by using a mandoline set to julienne to grate the fresh cucumbers. She says, “It’s a lovely ‘goopiness’ of cucumbers and sugar.”
All of Rascal Relish’s pickled vegetables use the same brine and pickling spice recipe with varying levels of sugar, salt and heat to amplify the fruits and vegetables in them. Carlisle has experimented with some hot sauces and sauerkrauts in the past, too.
This summer, additional offerings will include small batches of organic California citrus brown sugar marmalade, as well as salt-preserved limes and lemons, pickled beets and carrots.
In every phase, Rascal Relish aims to promote food sovereignty—knowing your food’s origin and how to prepare it, self-sufficiency and an overall curiosity and connection with food.
Pickling does not produce “an exclusive, unicorn product,” as Carlisle explains. “It’s a skill that everyone could learn.” The lid of every jar has a sticker announcing where the produce inside the jar came from. Carlisle emphasizes, the products are “not processed, but pure. That’s the core behind my interest—trying to get people to be curious about where their food came from, how long did it take to get here, who handled it.”
Most of the produce is sourced locally in Middlesex County and its surroundings, and she also strives to source from as many female-owned businesses as possible. As Carlisle explains, “So many of us women entrepreneurs want to do what we love and live off of it, and lift up other women’s businesses. I try to sell to and buy from women-run businesses as much as I can.”
Rascal Relish’s raccoon logo pops up at area-wide bi-weekly and monthly farmers markets in the following sites: Lexington, Arlington, Watertown, Belmont, Brookline, Medford, Stoneham, Melrose, Wakefield, Winchester, Roslindale and Union Square.
You can also visit the website (arascalrelish.com) and Instagram (@arascalrelish) to view the farmers market schedule and place orders directly for goods.
This story appeared in the Summer 2025 issue.
