For my first post, I give you “my” zucchini pickle recipe.  “My” because I got it from a book we bought at L.L.Bean (of all places) about 30 years ago.

Putting Food by:  The No.1 book about all the safe ways to preserve food,  by Ruth Hertzberg, Beatrice Vaughan and Janet Greene

It’s my go to book whenever I want to pickle.  The recipe calls for thin slices of small zucchini; well, I use those sneaky zucchini that hide and once you find them are the size of baseball bats! I make sure to core them, take the seeds and fibers out and cut them in one inch pieces.  For a pretty colorful mix I sometime add some yellow squash that also have escaped early picking.  So to all my friends who have been asking about the recipe lately, here it is

ZUCCHINI PICKLE

• 2 quarts thin slice of unpeeled, small zucchini squash
• 2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 cups vinegar
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 2 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Combine zucchini and onions.  Sprinkle with the salt, cover with cold water and let stand 2 hours.  Drain; rinse with fresh water, and drain again.  Combine remaining ingredients in an enamelware kettle and bring to boiling.  Cook 2 minutes.  Add zucchini and onions, remove from heat, and let stand 2 hours.  Bring again to boiling and cook 5 minutes.  Ladle hot into hot pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom and process in a Boiling-Water Bath (212F) for 10 minutes.  Makes about 4 pints.

Note: it is always important when canning that the jars, lids, pots be clean and sterilized. You can do so by boiling the jars 15 minutes or if you have a very hot drying cycle in your dishwasher. If you make a small amount of pickles and don’t want to bother with processing, put the jars in the fridge once they have cool to room temperature.

from my kitchen to yours!

CK, la fille du boucher