Delicious, fresh-tasting home-canned pickles that you can make at any time of year with zucchini (aka courgette) from your local green grocer — zucchini is usually affordable year round.
This recipe is from Ball.
See also: Bread and Butter Pickles
The recipe
Jar size choice: Half-litre (1 US pint / 16 oz)
Processing method: Either water-bath or steam canning
Yield: 5 x half-litre (US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: 10 minutes
Zucchini bread and butter pickles
Ingredients
- 2 kg zucchini (small, sliced. About 14 to 16 small zucchini, 4 lbs)
- 1 kg onions (peeled and sliced thinly. 2 lbs. About 8 small onion)
- 350 g green bell pepper (chopped. ¾ lb. Measured after seeding and chopping. 2 medium green.)
- 125 g pickling salt (⅓ cup / 4 oz)
- ice cubes (few handfuls)
- 2 tablespoons mustard seed
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
- 400 g sugar (white. 2 cups / 14 oz)
- 750 ml vinegar (5% acidity or higher. 3 cups / 24 oz)
Instructions
- Prep the zucchini, onion and bell pepper. Put in a large bowl.
- Add the salt OR 3 tablespoons of salt sub, toss gently.
- Add the ice cubes, toss gently.
- Let stand for 1 ½ hours, tossing gently occasionally.
- Drain the vegetables well and let them sit in a sieve while you do the next step.
- Combine all the remaining ingredients, from the mustard seed down to the vinegar. Bring to a boil.
- Add the well-drained veg to the pickling mixture, and simmer on low for 10 minutes.
- Pack hot into half-litre (1 US pint) jars.
- Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- Add ¼ teaspoon Pickle Crisp ® (optional) to each jar, then top up each jar with the pickling mixture leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- Debubble, adjust headspace with pickling mixture.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process for 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
- Best after at least a month of jar time.
Nutrition
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
Recipe notes
- You can use white vinegar or cider vinegar (5% or higher for both). Cider gives a bit of a sweeter taste but your pickling mixture will be a bit murkier.
- Instead of the salt, you can use a non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub. We have found Herbamare Sodium-Free performs well in that regard.
- You can reduce the sugar, or use the same volume amount of granulated Splenda®, or use 3 teaspoons of liquid stevia. For stevia, we’d recommend Better Stevia liquid stevia .
- If you have a mandolin, you can make groovy waved cut zucchini slices.
Recipe source
Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. Daleville, Indiana: Hearthmark LLC. Edition 36. 2013. Page 87.
Nutrition information
Regular version
Per 7 pickles / 50 g
- 35 calories, 609 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 7 pickles: 1 point
Sugar and Salt Free Version
Per 7 pickles / 50 g
- 14 calories, 4 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 7 pickles: 0 points; 14 to 28 pickles: 1 point.
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.
* Pickle Crisp ® is a registered trademark of the Jarden Corporation.
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