What the heck is a peck?

Dear Kristin,

Ah, summer. Here is another recipe that takes advantage of garden fresh produce. Now, this recipe comes from your great-grandmother. She could whip up the best things with the fewest ingredients. Have apples and flour? In the blink of an eye (and with no written recipe), there would be a warm apple kuchen for breakfast. Having ham for dinner? Don't throw out the bone - it will be used to make baked beans, and then re-used again to make soup! (She always told us that she would make the beans and the soup after the dog was finished with the bone, and not before!).

She also made this tomato "stuff". She called it chili sauce - but it's not, really. It's more like sweet pickled tomatoes - so we will call it tomato relish. It tastes great on hot dogs & hamburgers - but also on taco chips. Since I made this on Saturday, your dad has also been eating it straight out of the jar! The recipe I have is hand-written on a very smudged and yellowing piece of paper. No title, few measurements, and nonexistent instructions. I quote:

1 peck tomatoes
1 pt onions, chopped & ground
3 hot peppers (+3 sweet)
3 c vinegar
Sugar (brown or not)
1 1/2 tbsp. salt

Beware seeds and stems - more seeds and stems the hotter.
Peel tomatoes.
Cook 3-4 hours, 4-5 hours.
Stir frequently - low heat.
Cover jars in parafin. (sic)

Okay - thanks, Grandma! Now all I have to do translate Grandma-speak!

I had to google "peck" to find out that a peck is 8 quarts, or a quarter bushel. (So saying "I love you a bushel and a peck" says quite a lot!)
1 pt onions - I'm assuming that's 1 pint - but who sells onions by the pint?
Were the sweet peppers just an afterthought?
What kind of vinegar? Cider, white, rice-wine, champagne? Since great grandma was raised on a farm, I'm thinking the simplest - so I choose white.
Sugar - I'm assuming brown, but how much?
1 1/2 tbsp. salt - Finally - something I can measure!!!!!!

With all of that said - I will put the recipe down here, but will not give you instructions on how to preserve this summertime treat. I do not cover my jars in paraffin - I use a hot water bath instead. I won't go into the details - but there is a good video demo on YouTube here.

One word of caution. This stuff smells so good while it's cooking (and that is for the better part of a day), that you will have your husband, kids, neighbors, visiting dignitaries and perfect strangers hanging about your kitchen just to breathe in the aroma. Seriously - it smells that good.

OK - here goes:

tomato relish

12 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes (I used romas, but any good, ripe tomato will do)
2 cups finely chopped onions
2 hot peppers, finely chopped (beware seeds and stems - the more you leave in, the hotter your relish will be)
2 cups finely chopped sweet pepper
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 Tbsp. kosher salt