Well, I decided to try a recipe that I got from the Home Food Storage Lady in Highland, Chirine Wadsworth. Her link is the bottom one of my sidebar blog list. Alpine Food Storage. The recipe was for Zucchini Relish. Sounded good and my friend, Sylvie, at work, says she uses the same recipe. So, I got out my old Kitchen-Aid grinder attachment and started grinding the veggies. In the upper right starts some of the mess I created. But it only got worse from there, couldn't take a picture of that. My dear husband always says, "Clean as you go". Well, who wants to keep cleaning and cleaning, just do it once and forget it, is my motto. And then when I was done, I put it in the bowl and refrigerated overnight. It looks good. But then I had to go out and buy a new steam canner, since I quit canning over 20 years ago, had to do with starting to work full-time, I guess. I gave my mom all my equipment and jars and so I am starting from scratch. Below is the recipe, just in case your zucchinis are also growing out of your ears.
Amazing Zucchini Relish
8-9 pints of Relish
Soak
10 C. zucchini
3 C. onions
4 red bell peppers
5 T. salt
Mix
3 c. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1 t. turmeric
1 t. nutmeg (Sylvie's addition to the recipe)
3 C. vinegar
1 t. dry mustard
1 t. black pepper
1 t. celery seed
Grate zucchini in food processor, along with onion and bell peppers. Mix salt in with vegetables in large plastic bowl and let stand overnight. Next day, rinse thoroughly in a large strainer and drain well.
Place shredded vegetables in large heavy pan and add remaining ingredients. Mix well and boil for 30 minutes. Pack in jars, seal and process 10 minutes.
So back to the farmer girl version of me...Actually, if I had more time, I think I would do a lot of this. Probably more canning, than eating. At least that was how it used to be. Then I would wonder if the stuff in the jars had rotted and I would get salmonella or some other strange manifestation if I ate it.
