(My First) Homemade Zucchini Relish - Yum!

Actually, it's my first attempt at making any kind of relish, and it turned out absolutely delicious! It's another one of those recipes where you really can't go wrong making it because you can alter it according to your taste - increasing or decreasing the sugar amount, vinegar etc., as long as you have ALL the right ingredients.

I've looked over several zucchini relish recipes and they all seem to contain the same ingredients but in varying amounts so it appears how tangy (or not so tangy) you want your relish to be is entirely up to you.

Speaking of ingredients, like with making anything new for the first time, you'll never have all the necessary ingredients on hand. I didn't, so I had to go out and get me some mustard powder, mustard seeds, tumeric powder and celery seeds.

Of course, the star attraction, the zucchini, most folks seem to have on hand - or growing in their gardens, (or at least that's what I often read) and if you don't really care for zucchini, I honestly think you will still love this relish recipe.

For this recipe discovered online, The Best Zucchini Relish!, I pretty much followed everything to the 't' with one slight exception: I didn't grate anything. I diced/chopped them up instead.

I much prefer my relishes to be chunky, especially since I was making it mostly to put on sausages for those lazy hazy summer days.

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Recipe

Recipe yields 12-14 1/2 pint mason jars


Ingredients

• 10 cups ZUCCHINI, grated
• 5 cups ONION, grated
• 5 tbsp SALT
• 2 1/2 cups white VINEGAR
• 5 cups SUGAR
• 1 tbsp TUMERIC powder
• 1 RED PEPPER, grated
• 1 GREEN PEPPER, grated
• 2 tbsp CELERY seeds
• 1/2 tsp BLACK PEPPER
• 1/2 tsp dry MUSTARD powder
• 1/2 tsp MUSTARD seeds

Instructions:

* All vegetables can be grated in a food processor.  This makes the job much less labour intensive. If you do not have a food processor, this recipe is possible with a good old-fashioned hand grater.

1. The day prior to making relish, combine zucchini, onion and salt, let this stand overnight covered in the fridge.
2. The next day, rinse the zucchini and onion thoroughly in a strainer, using cold water. After this has been rinsed and any excess moisture has been well drained, place in a large pot. Add all of the remaining ingredients. Bring all ingredients to a boil and then turn down heat to simmer. Simmer uncovered for thirty minutes.
3. Meanwhile, prepare your jars and lids. Both jars and lids must be hot when ladling relish into them. All jars must be sanitized; either by way of dishwasher or if you do not have a dishwasher, a bath in boiling water will do just fine. After your jars have been sanitized, lay them out in preparation for the relish. Do this right before the relish is ready so that they remain hot when placing the relish into them.  This will help to seal the relish properly. Keep lids in a bowl of boiling water and remove them as you place them on the jars.
4. Once relish has simmered for thirty minutes, turn off element. Using a ladel, pour relish into hot jar, leaving a 1/2 inch at the top.  Immediately place hot lid on top of jar and tighten. Let relish cool. Once relish has cooled completely, store in a cool, dry place.  Now, try to make it last the whole year.

(Original Recipe: The Best Zucchini Relish!)

And there you have it! Now go forth, make... and enjoy!