One of the customers on Marlo’s route gave him a jar of sweet zucchini pickles one year and he couldn’t stop raving about them last summer when I was blessed with an abundance of zucchini. His customer was happy to share the recipe, but couldn’t remember which recipe he’d used. He gave us three different recipes for Sweet Zucchini Pickles that he’d made and we narrowed it down based on Marlo’s memory of ingredients.
I made this recipe twice last summer! I just pulled the last jar from the pantry since I planted three more zucchini plants last weekend.
His customer sealed them by starting with sterilized jars and turning them upside down after filling and sealing the lids. I processed the jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes one time (after finding a similar recipe in one of my canning books) and used the upside down method the other, wondering if we’d notice a difference in texture. We did not. You can get information about safely canning product at the National Center for Home Food Preservation. I am not an expert by any means.
You have to plan ahead to make these, as the zucchini, onion, peppers, garlic and salt sit under ice for 2-3 hours. I made these with a mix of yellow and green squash once and all green another time.
Sweet Zucchini Pickles
Ingredients
- 4 quarts sliced zucchini
- 6 onions, sliced
- 2 green peppers, sliced
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/2 cup salt
- cracked ice
- 5 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed
- 3 cups vinegar
Instructions
- Combine the zucchini, onions, peppers and garlic in a large bowl. Stir in the salt, then cover the whole bowl with cracked ice. Cover with a heavy towel and let sit for 2-3 hours.
- Get 8 pint jars, lids and rings prepared.
- Drain the vegetables and put them in a large pot.
- Mix the sugar, turmeric, mustard seed and vinegar and pour over the vegetables.
- Bring to a boil, stirring, then put into the pint jars.
- Load the jars into your kettle and process for 10 minutes.
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