Want to surprise your family at your Fourth of July or Labor Day BBQ? Impress then with your canning prowess? This SUPER easy summer squash relish recipe for canning will do just that! When serving up those hamburgers and hotdogs, you can bring out your own homemade relish!
Each year I make a small batch of pickle relish to last us through the year. We don’t use a whole lot of relish, just for the occasional hamburgers, or bratwurst sausages on buns. It’s nice to have the homemade stuff around not just because it saves a few dollars at the grocery store and uses things I would grow in my garden anyway, but also because I can control the sugar. And the flavor is so, so much better than commercial relish. And it’s healthier for you without the preservatives or additives found in commercial relish.
I have two recipes I use, depending upon the amount of produce in the garden. If I have a whole bunch of cucumbers, I like to make the standard cucumber / pickle style relish. However, we have all had those years where a summer squash plant goes nuts and you find yourself with an overload of zucchini or crookneck or pattypan and you have no idea how to begin to use it all up! I am very conservative when planting summer squash, because, seriously, these babies do go nuts. This recipe has been my solution.
What Type of Squash to Use?
This summer squash relish recipe works with many types of squash. Zucchini is one of the most popular summer squash, but I have also had excellent results with pattypan squash and also the Zapallo del Tronco summer squash. LOVE THIS SQUASH!!
As a cool sidebar, this recipe is really good for using that squash that was hiding underneath plant leaves and grew to be extra big! You may not want to use that big squash for your main meal after the skin starts getting tough. But that huge squash is perfect for this recipe. Between the soaking and the cooking, the skin will soften right up. However, you may want to remove any seeds while you are chopping.
But pretty much any summer squash should do just fine. You can experiment. If you don’t have any in your garden, get what you can find at the farmer’s market or grocery store.
I’d love to hear what types of squash you all have used in the comments below!!
Summer Squash Relish Recipe
Ingredients- Vegetables
- 2 Cups chopped summer squash (patty pan, zucchini, crookneck, or Zapallo del Tronco). Squash that are picked young before seed development work best. But even a later picked squash will work in this recipe. You just may have to seed it, depending upon how mature it is.
- 1 Cup chopped onion
- 1 Cup green bell peppers and sweet red peppers (you can do half and half, or whatever you have)
- 2 Tablespoons canning or kosher salt
(The veggies should equal four cups total)
Ingredients- Spices
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon mustard seed
I’ve also made this relish with golden pattypan squash, sweet orange peppers and purple onions for a colorful alternative. The colors may fade a bit during cooking, so watch you don’t cook too long.
Instructions to Make the Relish
Put all vegetables in a bowl. Cover with the salt and cold water. 2 cups of water should be sufficient to cover all of the veggies. Let that stand 2-3 hours.
(Now you can go out and garden for a bit!)
When you come back in, start your hot water bath canner. Drain and rinse the veggies. Set them aside to continue draining while you prepare the seasonings.
Add the vinegar, sugar and spices to a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and add the drained veggie mix. Simmer 10 minutes.
Pack into half pint (8 oz) canning jars jars – usually makes 3 half pints. Make sure you get a little liquid in each jar. Process in your hot water bath canner for ten minutes.
Enjoy on brats, burgers, chicken, in homemade tartar sauce, potato salad, or deviled eggs.
