Zucchini Salsa

Zucchini Salsa

My friend Jen has been wonderful in sharing produce from her garden.  One week, we ended up with a ton of Zucchini.  At our house, we had a few peppers from the four plants we had planted.  I spotted this recipe and knew we had everything we needed for a yummy salsa!

Zucchini Salsa
10 cups zucchini, peeled and shredded
4 onions, chopped (ran these through the food processor)
2 green peppers, chopped (ran these through the food processor)
2 red peppers, chopped (ran these through the food processor)
1/4 c pickling salt
2 T dry mustard
1 T garlic powder
1 T cumin
2 cups white vinegar
1 c brown sugar
2 T red pepper flakes
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp pepper
5 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
12 oz tomato paste

Day One:
In a large bowl, combine zucchini, onions, Green and red peppers and the 1/4 cup salt.  Mix together, cover and let stand over night.

Day Two:
Rinse, drain and put the zucchini combo in a large pot.  Add mustard, garlic, cumin, vinegar, brown sugar, pepper flakes, an additional 1 T salt, nutmeg, pepper, tomatoes and tomato paste.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Pour into sterilized jars, wipe rims, add lids and rings.  Water bath for 15 minutes once water has come to a rolling boil.  Let stand 24 hours, remove rings and test to ensure jars have sealed.

The results of our Jam Session.  

This "Jam Session" was a great mental health day for all of us.  We started around 9 and didn't finish until close to 730 that evening.

Attendees were Tortie, Jen H and Christine.  Miss Mia was also present and "helped" the entire day, skipping her nap.  

Recipes:  Caponata, Sloppy Joe Mix, BBQ Sauce, Hot Pepper Honey Mustard (two batches), chocolate raspberry sauce, Fuzzy Navel Jam, Sweet Potato Butter, and Cinnamon Honey Butter.  We also made "emergency candles" from Crisco!

Jen brought the rest of her produce from her garden and placed it in freezer bags, what we didn't use in our recipes, as we've had a hard frost and freeze this past week and our growing season is officially over.

Spiced Red (PURPLE!) Cabbage

Spiced Red (PURPLE!) Cabbage

My friend Jen has been the most awesome person in the world lately . . . according to Miss Mia, Jen put in a HUGE garden just for us.  AND she grows PURPLE veggies.  Yes!  PURPLE.  One night, Jen gave us PURPLE peppers, PURPLE Cabbage and PURPLE eggplant.  Needless to say, Miss Mia has decided that, next year, that's what we're growing . . . all PURPLE!

We've enjoyed many meals from Jen's garden, but still had quite the overflow of cabbage.  So, the husband actually decided we should can some . . . and NOT have it be "sauerkraut".

This is what we found.

Be warned, it makes your house smell like Christmas!

Spiced Red(PURPLE!) Cabbage

1 large head red (PURPLE) cabbage
1/8 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup mustard seeds
4 cups white vinegar
1 T whole cloves
1 T whole allspice (this didn't make it in our recipe)
1 T peppercorns
1 T celery seed
1 stick cinnamon - broken in half

Shred cabbage using food processor.  Layer cabbage in a bowl, covering each new layer with some of the kosher salt.  Cover cabbage and let stand for 24 hours.  Using a large colander, rinse and drain cabbage.  Try to get as much water off of cabbage as possible.

Sterilize jars (I ended up needing 4 pint size jars and one 1/2 pint jar).  Raw pack each jar with the cabbage, leaving 1 inch head space.

Place the cloves, allspice, peppercorns, celery seed and cinnamon in a tied cheesecloth.  In a non-reactive pot (or dutch oven), combine vinegar and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Add the mustard seed and the cheesecloth ball to vinegar and sugar mix.  Cook mixture on low boil for three minutes.  Remove the cheesecloth ball before ladling.

Ladle the vinegar mix into jars - leave 1/2 inch head space.  Remove any air bubbles.  Tighten lids and place in water bath for 20 minutes.  Remove from water bath, place on kitchen towels and let sit for 24 hours before moving.  Remove rings for storage.  Leave sit at least three weeks in storage for best results regarding flavor.

It will turn a beautiful color!

Canning Results

I guess I need to share some of our new recipes!  A new Jam Session this weekend!