A new adventure!!! Zucchini Relish!

This is yesterday's harvest from my garden.  I am having so much fun with my garden this year!  The cucumbers became Kosher Dill pickles.  What to do with all the zucchini??  I can hear people screaming at the computer screen - zucchini bread!!  I am sure I will sometime this summer make a loaf of zucchini bread or two.  But I wanted to do something different with these zucchini!  Besides I had so many.

Last year I found this nifty (do people still say "nifty"?), well, I do! . . . anyway, I found this nifty book called Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman (disclaimer . . . I do not know this woman nor do not get paid for endorsing her book).  In the book, I found a recipe called the "Busy Person's Zucchini Relish" and one of the ingredients is 10 cups of finely chopped zucchini!!  Viola!!  My zucchinis had found their new home - Zucchini Relish!!  And yes, I do know this is a baking blog not a canning or pickling blog, but I thought a change of pace might be nice.

Word of warning . . . this is a two-day process recipe!

First day:

Ingredients:

10 cups finely chopped zucchini (recommend doing that in your food processor!!)
4 cups finely chopped onions
1 green pepper. finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
5 T pickling salt
1 t cornstarch
2 1/2 c distilled white vinegar
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 large hot red chile pepper
1 T nutmeg
1 T dry mustard powder
1 T ground turmeric
2 t celery salt
1/2 t black pepper

Combine the zucchini, onions, and peppers in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with salt and toss to mix well.  Cover and let stand overnight.

Second Day

The next morning, drain the vegetable and rinse thoroughly with cold tap water.  Drain again.  Transfer the vegetables to a large sauce pan.

In a separate bowl (I used a large measuring cup), dissolve the cornstarch in the white vinegar and add to the vegetables, along with the sugar, chile pepper, nutmeg, mustard powder, turneric, celery salt, and black pepper - mix well.  Dissolve the sugar while bringing the vegetable mixture to a boil.  Decrease the heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes until it is thick. Stir occasionally.

Pack the hot relish into clean, hot pint canning jars, leaving ½ inch headspace.  Remove any air bubbles and seal.  Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  Let cool undisturbed for 12 hours.  Store in a dry, cool place.

Makes about 6 or 7 pints jars.  This is so good!!  Definitely a keeper recipe!!  You can use this right away (after you let it cool, of course!!).  A great way to use up all those zucchini you have and you just can't eat another piece of zucchini bread!