AN ABUNDANCE OF ZUCCHINIS 2

I promised one of my readers a recipe for Zucchini Pickles. As I wrote in An Abundance of Zucchinis 1, zucchinis didn’t feature highly in the diet of Australians until after the migration of many Mediterranean people to Australia in the past fifty years. I planted my first packet of zucchini seed in the 1980’s and was amazed at the abundance of zucchinis this packet produced. A friend, Margaret Arnott from Canada, sent me her recipe for Pickled Zucchinis.

When we moved to live on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland to establish Das Helwig Haus B&B we found ourselves blessed with Italian born neighbours who grew fields of Mediterranean vegetables every year. On her welcoming visit to our home, Nerrina brought us a box of zucchinis. She said, “Just climb through the fence and help yourself any time you want more.” Thus, I have not bothered to grow zucchinis in recent years.

Basket of freshly picked zucchini

Every year I make up jars of Margaret’s zucchini pickle recipe, often serving it like a bread & butter cucumber pickle.

PICKLED ZUCCHINI

1kg or 2lbs zucchini
2 small onions
2 cups sugar
2 tsp mustard seed
1/8 cup salt
2 cups vinegar
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. turmeric

Wash zucchini – cut into pieces, with onions. Cover with salt and water. Stand 2 hours. Drain. Boil remaining ingredients and pour over vegetables. Stand 2 hours. Then bring to boil again for 5 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars.

Ingredients for zucchini pickles

I slice my zucchinis with a ‘crinkle’ cutter to give them an interesting appearance for the times I serve them on crackers as a canape.

Crinkle cut zucchini

These would have to be one of the easiest pickles that I make. They are a sweet pickle. I save all our wide mouthed jars like these ones for European Rollmops, much enjoyed by my German born husband, Eberhard, as they are so easy to fill and can be reused many time. Just fill the hot pickle into the jar and close lid tightly.

2009 zucchini pickles

Many of my recipes are included in my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine available online at http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary