Relish Trays

I do a couple different types
Regular has
sweet and dill pickles, green and black olives, green onions and sometimes spicy pickled brussel sprouts

Italian
Super thin slices of salami, mortadella, and prosciutto
Fontanella cheese
Provolone cheese
Roasted red peppers
Good olives

Veggie tray is just whatever vegetables you like carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, slices of peppers etc and ranch dip

Of sorts...
Sometimes it is raw veggies (carrots, celery, red bell pepper, broccoli florets, black olives or some variety thereof), and sometimes it is a variety of sliced cheeses with a variety of crackers, and seedless grapes. Sometimes it is just fruit (apple slices, seedless grapes, strawberries).

No matter what I do though, I never buy O. of those prepackaged ones. They are some of the most unappetizing things I see... and it always seems like someone brings O. when people are expecting they need to bring "something".

The carrots are always dried out or slimy (O. or the other), the apples are brown or mushy, and I rarely see anyone eat any of it. Anywhere.

But if you make a fresh tray at home, people gravitate to it and eat it, in my experience. I know I do. And when it looks like it's a pre-packaged O. that has just been "plated" to look like it was done it home, it doesn't fool me...

I am an OLD woman.

YES...I do a relish tray as a 'salute' to my ancestors. I even have 'trays' designed to place the 'stuff' in!! lol

O. is sterling silver...O. is cut glass.

I put olives, radish florets, sweet pickles and celery.

No O. eats much of it mind you. BUT, *I* feel many of my deceased family members look on, and smile.

Kind of like they do with the turnips NO O. likes...lol...but *I* still make them!

Merry merry!!

Yes, I do.

Raw veggies (carrots, sweet peppers, celery, etc.)
Gerkin pickles (sweet and sour)
Olives
Pickled beets

I will often do a cheese and cracker tray too

Yes I do....

Mine consists of asst olives, crostini bread, cheeses, sliced salami, prosciutto, pepperoni. Sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzeralla

Christmas isn't Christmas without a herd of kids running around with black olives on their fingers.

My usual tray is dill pickles, black and green olives.

I do some appetizers or Hors d'oeuvres. It depends on what I'm serving.

If I want a buffet style meal then I am going to have a menu and have desserts in O. place, meats in another, and so forth. I would probably have some fresh fruit and veggies with dip but not some plates with a variety of bite size foods on them.

I'm with Diane B. - I'm half PA Dutch and that's what I remember, too! Lots of pickling and sweet/sour things.

I usually do a veggie tray and a cheese tray, but not a relish tray.

I usually do a fruit/veggie plate, cheese plate, and olive plate, with varieties of each.

Green olives, pickled beets, cocktail onions and dill pickles.

Absolutely...and all of the below :)

When I grew up, my Pennsylvania Dutch great grandmother always put 7 sweets and 7 sours on the table. The sours were things like pickles and beets and slaws. The sweets were things like cinnamon-laden sticky buns and other desserts, and by some people's counting included sweet gherkins (even though technically pickled, they had sugar added to them in the pickling). If that's the more traditional thing you are looking for, you can google those. You can also include things like cranberry breads or cran/orange relish (recipe on every bag of cranberries) since cranberries are plentiful at this time of year.

You can also, as suggested below, go more into the Italian antipasto side or the Middle Eastern hummus dishes.

I think you have some good suggestions below but I'd stay away from pickled beets, especially if there's a buffet table and people are walking around with them. You really don't want beet red carpet stains! Same problem with cranberries unless they're in a bread and pretty well contained.

Good luck!

Yum! I'm partial to various kind of olives. I also do veggie sticks and cheeses.

Yes, mostly because my grandma always did O. so I do too. My mom had hers out for xmas dinner yesterday, it has 4 slots in it. Mine has 3 and I put sweet pickles, regular pickles and black olives in it. I think hers had the same but added artichoke hearts in the 4th.

Yes. Why would you not?

I have a cheese and cracker tray and then relish tray has black olives, green olives, midget pickles (dill and sweet) and nuts - usually almonds or cashews..

I have a veggie tray as well...people need something to munch on while talking and doing whatever we have planned....and to top it off, when smelling the food cooking in the oven?? People get hungry...so wet their appetite with small things...

Grape tomatoes
Carrot sticks
Celery
Sliced bell peppers
Sliced cucumbers
Kosher dill spears
Green olives
Broccoli florets
Cauliflower florets