pickle party

Even though the weather has been horrendously hot and humid it was time to make the pickles. Sort of like making jam...wash lots of jars and equipment, set everything up...stand back and listen to hubby complain about how I'm heating up the kitchen/house.

BUT and this is a big but....nothing tastes so good in the middle of winter as the pickles that you sweated over in the summertime. Plus I had a batch of zucchini that was only going to be good for the compost heap if I didn't either eat them or cook them. While I like eating zucchini there's no way I could eat that many of them in time. And I LIKE pickles.

This recipe is from the Ball Blue Book. Every year I say I'm going to get a new copy because mine is old, has some burned pages (from a canning/stove accident years ago but we don't talk about that), lots of stains, some pages stuck together. But it's a great book and I love it and have not as yet been able to bring myself to replace it.

Zucchini Pickles

Slice up a bunch of zucchini (I used 10 and used the mandolin to slice them)
slice up some onions (I used three)
put in a bowl, sprinkle generously with salt, cover with cold water, let sit 2 hours
In a big pot mix together:
3 cups white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup pickling salt
2 teaspoons mustard seed
1 teaspoon celery seed (the recipe actually calls for celery salt but that's too much salt for my taste)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
bring to a boil
Drain zucchini mix and add to vinegar mix
bring back to a boil, then simmer 1 hour (recipe calls for 2 but I've never had that much patience)
bring back to a boil then ladle into jars, seal, hot water bath 5 minutes
label and put away for later 'cause it's too doggone hot to eat hot pickles
ENJOY later!!!