Friday, September 9, 2011

Zucchini Relish

Back when we had two small children, Ken and I tried our hand at canning. We had a neighbor with a large garden, and he often shared his surplus. We canned tomatoes, green beans, pickles, and zucchini relish. My favorite of these was zucchini relish, which I hadn't thought about for many years...until my friend in town gave me two large zucchini. I couldn't resist ~ found the recipe, fired up the food processor [which we didn't have lo those many years ago when we grated everything by hand], and put together a batch of relish. It's hard to capture the beauty of this particular relish, and I finally resorted to taking a jar outside with the hope that the natural light would shine through the beautiful color ~

I will share the recipe with the caveat that it is sweet. I remembered that after a taste test, when I also remembered that I cut down on the sugar in the days when I made a second batch.


Zucchini Relish (makes 7 pints)


Grate 10 cups of zucchini and 4 cups of onion. In a large pan combine the two and add 5 Tbsp. pickling salt; let sit 8-10 hours.


Rinse and drain.


Grate 2 red peppers and 2 green peppers; add those to the zucchini and onion mix with 1 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 Tbsp. tumeric, 1/2 tsp. pepper, 5 cups sugar, and 2 1/2 cups white vinegar.


Mix everything and bring to a boil. Simmer 30 minutes. Pack into hot jars and process 15 minutes in boiling water bath.


This is good with anything grilled, and we will enjoy it all winter long as a reminder of the taste of summer.

3 comments:

teri said...

Well you know I have taken a try into the canning world- for the first time last week. (Husband is away and I try to learn/do something new while he is away)It was a smashing success. In fact I just returned from the farmers market with a sinkful of peaches. I made preserves last week- any suggestions for peaches for me? Your Zucchini relish looks fantastic- I will be making that soon! I like canning.. who knew? xo teri

Balisha said...

I used to do a lot of canning. We had a neighbor like yours, who shared their bounty. I made pints and pints of this relish. When I moved into a new home, I left my canning days behind. Every once in a while, I get the urge to do some more.I used to love how my shelves looked with all the beautiful jars.
Glad to hear that you are slowly getting back to normal.
Balisha

cindy said...

Yum! I love sweet relishes and pickles...I remember making the bread and butter pickles from cucumbers back in the day.