what do you do with all this extra zucchini?

you just have to make pickle relish!





A quick read of the pickle relish recipe revealed that I had everything needed in the house to whip up a batch, so that produce wouldn't be wasted.

So here's what I used
from the garden where some things "got away" and became too big for my usual cooking:  1 large zucchini, 1 large yellow squash, 2 large cucumbers -- all of these got grated on the biggest hole of a standard hand grater

from the drawers of the 'fridge: 1 red onion, 3 small yellow (sweet) peppers -- these were chopped in very fine dice

Put all of those veggies in a large crock (yup, I have an OLD McCoy crock that was my grandmother's that we use for this purpose). Cover the whole batch with a mixture of 1/4 cup salt and 1 quart of water. Let soak for 3 to 4 hours.

Drain. Cover with 1 quart of fresh water and sprinkle 2 teaspoons of tumeric over the top. Let soak for another hour.

Drain completely (I pressed it into a sieve to squeeze out the water).

from the cupboards: mustard seeds, brown sugar, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, vinegar

In a sauce pan, combine 2 cups vinegar, and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Create a bouquet garni by using a piece of cheese cloth (or part of an old, clean dishtowel) tied with a piece of thread or kitchen twine and include: 1 cinnamon stick, 2 teaspoons of mustard seed and 1 teaspoon of whole cloves. Drop the bouquet garni into the sauce pan and bring to a boil. Pour mixture (including bouquet garni) over the veggies. Let stand for another 12 to 18 hours.

At the end of the "steeping", remove the bouquet garni and pour the remaining crock contents into a large pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for at least 10 minutes.

Pack into hot glass jars and put on seal and ring. Set jar on a towel UPSIDE DOWN for 5 minutes, then turn right side up.

Let cool completely before moving. Test jars for seal before storing.




And this is the result.

Oh yes, because I had so many yellow veggies in the mix, it just didn't look quite right, so I dropped in 2 drops of green food color....yellow pickle relish just looks wrong to me!!