Canning Zucchini Relish

A couple of days ago I posted that I was doing something I hadn’t done in probably 10 years! 

I canned Zucchini Relish!

I didn’t completely forget!

It was like riding a bike… well sort of.

As you know, in my garden this year, I planted some zucchini.

My plan was to grow massive amounts of it and can some relish.

Well, the massive amounts did NOT happen.  For some reason my zucchini plants did not thrive. 

They started off well, then kinda petered out. 

They turned yellow, the leaves completely wilted.  I don’t know what happened.  If ANYONE out there has a clue please let me know!

I did notice some bugs all over them, and I sprinkled them with sevin.  

Oh well, they went out with the trash last week.  

But I have a wonderful friend, I’ll just call her Nana.  She gave me several beautiful zucchinis and some of them were huge!

So, I had enough to do a batch of relish.

Which I have to say is the BEST relish I have ever had!

Ok! Here we go!

 The first thing I did was shred 10 cups of zucchini.

{Side note, have you ever noticed that zucchini has the weirdest spelling!}

Then put them in a brine solution. Which is basically salt water. I put all of the zucchini in a large bowl and put enough water in to cover it.  

Then I added about 1 T. of pickling salt per cup of zucchini.

Set that overnight.

This keeps the zucchini firm and helps it hold it's color.

In the morning, I got out all of my canning supplies.

Put the water on for the lids.  

Filled the water bath pot and started to heat that up also.

Washed the jars and rings.

I wanted to time myself to see how long this process would take. The clock said about 6:30am.  Time to make this relish!

I put the jars into the water bath pot to keep them warm.

Then, I  needed to rinsed the zucchini. 

I dumped it in a colander and rinsed and rinsed.

Then I got out my stockpot and started putting the ingredients in.

2 ¼ c. vinegar

1 tsp. Ground nutmet

2 tsp. Celery Seed

6 cups sugar (man that’s going to be sweet!)

2 tsp. Tumeric

Bring that to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

Well, I’m not one to just sit around and watch a pot.

I went outside and watered my flower pots.

Watered my veggie garden.

Collected the trash around the house.

Took it out to the street.

Got the newspaper.

Did the dishes.

And in between checked on my pot.

It boiled and it simmered.

I added 1 Tbl. Dried mustard.

Then I added a little cornstarch to a bit of water and let it cook it a bit more until it started to thicken some.

Add the zucchini.

I simmered that for another 10 minutes.

I think we are ready to can.

Get a jar out.

Fill with relish, and leave ¼ inch gap.

Wipe top off.

Put seal on with ring and set in water bath.

They need to boil in the water bath for 10 minutes.

Yay!

I really enjoyed canning this yumminess!

I'm going to enjoy eating it even more!

I was really bummed out that it only yielded 3 jars of relish…  :/

After re-reading my recipe.  I could have added a lot more zucchini.  I don’t particularly like onion in my relish and I didn’t put the peppers in it either. So, I could have added another 5-6 cups of zucchini…. Drat! Next time!

Here is the recipe all together if you’d like to try it!

Canning ~ Zucchini Relish

{Original with the onion and peppers, otherwise you can just use 15-16 cups of shredded zucchini}

10 cups unpeeled, shredded zucchini

4 cups onion, shredded

1 red sweet pepper, shredded

1 green pepper, shredded

2 ¼ c. vinegar

1 tsp. Ground nutmet

2 tsp. Celery Seed

6 cups sugar 

2 tsp. Tumeric

1 Tbl. Dried mustard

1 Tbl. Cornstarch

Zucchini, onion and peppers in brine mix.  Let stand overnight. Then drain and rinse.

Bring next 5 ingredients to a boil.  Then simmer for 30 minutes.  Add mustard.  Mix a small amount of water with cornstarch and add to mixture.  Cook until thickened.  Add vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes.  Can using water bath method.

Have you ever canned zucchini relish?

What’s your favorite item to can in the summer?

Does anyone have any answers to my poor zucchini plants?