Friday, June 25, 2010

Zucchini Days Are Here Again...and Again!

Yesterday was known as zucchini day. I posted yesterday on the zucchini chocolate cupcakes and then the most magnificent zucchini casserole ever which was even better tonight as left overs. I even made zucchini relish that morning. I started the day with 9 zucchini, but then during the day I went out and harvested several more. I had to use it all up as I already have bags upon bags in the freezer. So, this is where I started.
I don't know why I decided to make relish. I don't honestly think I've ever eaten relish on anything in my life. I suppose it was because 12 cups of chopped zucchini seemed like it would take up a lot of the veggies and it did. Just look at this bowl! However I still had zucchini left overs for the other two recipes.
So, I mixed in the onions and peppers and let it sit in salt overnight.
In the morning I cooked it down and then processed and canned it. It stunk something horrific, but that's most likely because I don't like peppers or pepper smells. It canned nicely and everything sealed.
Now it says to wait two weeks to try it. It's supposed to be good with bratwursts, but does anyone have any other ideas of what to do with all this? Now, I also harvested four more zucchini today, but I honestly think the plants are down for the count. I culled two more today because of SVB damage. They weren't putting out any more viable fruit. there are still a few more plants that have some hope. I'll most likely pull them at the end of next week if they are not producing anymore. It was a great run!!!

17 comments:

  1. Wow, your zucchini harvest puts mine to shame. LOL.
    http://nycgardening.blogspot.com/2010/06/organic-gardening-is-hard-but-worth-it.html


    What does SVB mean?

    I have a great recipe for Zucchini crumb pie. It's so good, and tastes like an apple crumb pie. Let me know if you want the recipe and I can post it for you.

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  2. Chocolate zucchini cupcakes...mmmmm! You have the best of times with your zukes. I am trying squash this year, and just like last year, they don't seem to be pollenating correctly. You're having a lovely harvesting time so far. Keep it up, and try to keep cool out there.

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  3. Boy, zucchini can really get out of hand! Another idea for the zucchini...is to freeze some sliced. I slice, lay it on waxed paper on a baking sheet, sprinkle with fruit fresh and put it in the freezer. When it is frozen, I put it in freezer bags. It keeps well like that.

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  4. I love relish on black-eyed peas over rice - Hoppin' John. I also like it on the side, with just about anything - especially with eggs.

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  5. Excellent ideas, everyone. I do have some sliced and frozen that I'll use in casseroles or stews in the future.

    Meemsnyc, I'd love the recipe! I have one for a zucchini pie I posted a while back. I wonder if it's similar.

    Jury is still out with the relish....Maybe y'all can make a convert out of me.

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  6. meemsnyc, she's talking about the dreaded Squash Vine Borer!

    Your zucchini harvests mimic my bean harvests, same picture of oodles of the stuff all week! I'm not much of a relish person, either, but hubby loves it.

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  7. Ah, thanks, Erin, I forgot that part!

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  8. How about making some dill relish? It can be used on burgers, in potato salads, for tarter sauce. The recipe calls for cucumber, but I've used cukes and zuks interchangeably in my sweet relish recipe, so I'm sure it would work the same for dill.

    Dill Relish
    Yield: about 8 half-pints

    6 cups chopped cucumbers
    1 cup chopped onions
    1/4 cup salt
    2 Tbsp.sugar
    1 Tbsp. dill seed
    2 cups vinegar (we much prefer cider vinegar over white for flavor)

    Combine cucumbers and onions in a large bowl; sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. Combine sugar, dill and vinegar in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Add drained vegetables; simmer 10 minutes.

    Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

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  9. During the zucchini glut every year I shred a bunch of zucs with a grater (or a food processor, if you have one) and freeze it in one cup portions. Then I add it to soups and sauces as the year goes on. I use up a TON of squash this way (use it for my yellow squash, too). I also shred it and mix it with pastas for a quick dinner or lunch.

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  10. Zucchini, Zucchini, Zucchini (hear Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!) Everyone seems to be able to grow it but meeeeeee!!! (whining)

    I am keeping all these wonderful ideas for using zucchini in case I ever get them to grow. I did have one flower that actually opened before falling off. Of course, it was a male blossom. BUT, maybe there is hope for me.

    I think I would love to give your relish a try and Granny's recipe sounds good, too.

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  11. I've never had zucchini relish before - let us know how it turns out! Currently I only have one 3" zucchini on my plants. The rest of the blooms all appear to be males flowers. I need me some girls so I can get some zucchinis!

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  12. A friend gave us a jar of yellow squash relish and I loved it on any kind of sandwich (and hot dogs). It was a little sweet, like bread and butter pickles, so it was great in potato salad too. I hope you like yours.

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  13. Potato salad sounds good! I bet I would like it in there.

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  14. Zucc relish/pickles is a great twist!

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  15. I don't know.. . I'm not a big relish person. My suggestion is to pick them tiny. Don't let them get so big you don't know what to do with them. Then they're nice raw in salads or split and grilled/sauteed.

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  16. My goodness you have been busy harvesting and then transforming these fresh veg into edible delights.

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