Adventures in Relishmaking

Recently, I had my first experience with canning/preserving-- making homemade zucchini relish! It's a good project during harvest because we can be around the radio in case the guys need help moving vehicles/augurs or need anything else.

Anyone who has ever grown zucchini knows that there always seems to be an overabundance and often you find yourself trying to come up with creative new ways to use it.  While zucchini relish is a lot of work, the end result is delicious and it makes a lot of it.  So, here is my photo-essay on Adventures in Relishmaking!

When you buy zucchini in the grocery store, you never see them this big!
This whopper is about 17 inches long.

Some of the zucchini we used for relish.
We only used the two smaller ones here, so we will have plenty for more batches.

We used  food processor to shred about 10 cups of zucchini. 

We also chopped quite a few onions and a red pepper.
The zucchini, onion, and pepper were mixed with salt (to help draw out excess water) and left overnight. 

This is the mixture after soaking all night.
The next day, we rinsed and squeezed out the excess water and salt using cheesecloth. 

The zucchini mixture is then placed in a large enamel pot and cooked with some spices, sugar,  and corn syrup.
It doesn't look very appetizing here, but it is very tasty, I promise! 

We ended up with four pints of relish to keep and share.  

I really love this little label.
Zucchini relish is great on burgers, sandwiches,  hot dogs, etc.