According to my parents, I have been a good eater from day one. My first sentence was, “more mayonnaise, please” and the first thing I learned to spell was “i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m.” Until it got too long, my mom kept a running list in my baby book of the foods I’d eaten and enjoyed. At a year old, my favorite foods were yogurt, bananas, cottage cheese, cheerios and plain steamed zucchini. Thirty-two years later, I still eat every single one of those items with some regularity. And I adore zucchini.
One of the things I love about zucchini (and really, any other summer squash), is its intense versatility. This time of year, people begin to complain about the influx of squash and how tired of it, but how can you be weary of something that can do so many different things and do them well?
My favorite squash application is one I learned from my friend Lucy, many years ago. You cube up several pounds of zucchini or yellow squash, combine it with olive oil, butter, garlic and a few herbs and cook it down until it has reduced by more than half. What you’re left with is a deeply flavorful, creamy spread. I eat it on toast, serve it at parties and smear it on homemade pizza. It freezes well and does an incredible job at taking a mountain of zucchini and making it feel manageable. Here’s an organized recipe for this spread.
One thing I hear frequently from new picklers is how disappointed they are with the texture of their water bath processed cucumber pickles. And I can understand this, because I don’t always love the spongy texture that cucumbers can acquire when exposed to heat (these days, I tend to stick mainly to refrigerator pickles when it comes to preserving cucumbers). However, I do like the flavor of a dill pickle come January and so I’ve taken to turning to zucchini instead of the traditional cuke. It holds its texture better and tastes awfully nice.
Another way I preserve summer squash is by turning it into a relish. You won’t find the recipe here on the blog because I saved it for the cookbook, but happily, Aimee made it for a piece on Simple Bites a few weeks back, so you can check it out even if you don’t have my little cookbook. It’s good on hot dogs, tasty with cheesy toast and stirs into tuna salad just as well as the cucumber version does.
The last pickle pieces I wrote for Serious Eats before hanging up my In a Pickle hat was all about zucchini pickles with curry. This is a tasty and popular way to put up a zucchini abundance for later in the year.
Of course, if you’re pressed for time and can’t spare the moments it takes to make even the most simple pickle, shred that summer squash, measure the shreds into two-cup portions and freeze them. You can bake with it, use it in soups or make zucchini fritters when the days are short and chilly.
This summer’s favorite zucchini preservation method has been chocolate zucchini bread. I make it so it’s just barely sweet. To serve, I toast up a slice and drizzle just a little bit of honey over top. I have three small loaves in the freezer, ready for a day when I need a bit of a treat. The recipe for that bread is at the bottom of this post.
How do you preserve zucchini and other summer squashes?
Six Ways to Preserve Zucchini
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup mashed banana
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 cups grated zucchini pack it tight
- 2 2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two loaf pans and set aside.
- Beat together the eggs, butter, mashed banana, honey, brown sugar and vanilla. Once integrated, stir shredded zucchini into the wet ingredients.
- In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, cinnamon and baking powder. Gently whisk until fully integrated.
- Add the dry ingredient to the wet in three batches, stirring well to integrate before adding more.
- Once batter is mixed, divide it equally between the two prepared pans.
- Bake for 60-75 minutes, until the loaves are baked through and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Eat within 3-4 days or wrap in several layers of plastic and freeze.
I’m dying for the curry zucchini pickle recipe!
Strangely, I don’t have one here on the blog. But you could easily take this recipe and transform it with the application of some tasty curry powder. https://foodinjars.com/recipe/slightly-sweet-zucchini-fridge-pickles/
These are all amazing ideas! Thank you for sharing this with us! Very useful 🤗
So glad it’s helpful!
I am loving the shred and freeze idea! It will enable me to use our summer bounty all year. My family’s favorite zuke recipe is my grandmother’s Zucchini Cornbread Recipe….
1 1/2 cup shredded Zucchini
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4cuo suga1 stick melted butter
1 1/4 cup Self Rising Cornbread Mix
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cottage cheese
Mix all ingredients, bake in 9×13 pan at 425 about 30 minutes, until crispy and lightlybrowned on top. Don’t forget to slather Don’t forget to slather on more butter while it cools♡
That sounds delicious!
I was making dilled green beans and had liquid left. I grabbed some huge zucchini, cut them in spears and made Spicy Zucchini Spears. We like them better than the dilled beans. Here’s the recipe.
SPICY ZUCCHINI SPEARS
(USES UP THOSE HUGE LEG AND ARM SIZED ZUCCHINI)
Adapted from pickled green beans recipe by Matthew Molus
READY IN: 25mins
YIELD: 10 Jars
INGREDIENTS
1. Large zucchini
2. 1⁄2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, per jar
3. 1⁄2 teaspoon mustard seeds, per jar
4. 1⁄2 teaspoon dill seed, per jar
5. 1 whole garlic clove, per jar
6. 5 cups vinegar
7. 5 cups water
8. 1⁄2 cup salt
DIRECTIONS
1. Before I start to cut the zucchini, I put the vinegar, water and salt in a pot, bring to a boil and keep it at a low boil.
2. Make sure your water bath is ready (Boil water then turn off heat so you can just quickly bring to a boil again when you need it). Sterilize jars and lids. I do jars in the oven on a cookie sheet at 275 and sterilize lids in pot of boiling water.
3. Cut ends off large zucchini then slice it into four inch lengths so slices will fit in pint canning jars. Slice the “meaty” part away from the seeds inside. Do this on each of the four rounded sides of each chunk of zucchini. Now cut those sliced chunks into strips like pickle wedges and put into a large bowl. If you have pieces left, I usually cut them in smaller pieces and put them in a different bowl.
4. Place ingredients 2-5 into each sterile jar. I do five at a time.
5. Bring vinegar water mixture back to boil.
6. Put out the sterilized jars. Put on a rubber glove and hold a jar on an angle and begin to slide zucchini slices into jar on top of each other. Check jar to make sure there are no spaces around the outside. Cut some thinner zucchini slices and squeeze them in to fill in any spaces. I do five jars at a time then put them in the water bath and I do another five jars while first batch is processing. Small bits in the other bowl can be put in jars together and be like bread and butter pickles.
7. Add liquid to jars. I use a sterile measuring cup (2 cup) and dip it into liquid then pour it into the five jars.
8. Wipe rims of jars and gently tighten lids.
9. Process in boiling water 15 min. Remove then add second batch. Let processed jars sit undisturbed overnight.
NOTES:
1. This wonderful recipe came about because I made pickled green beans and had liquid left so I decided to finish off the liquid with zucchini spears and they were a huge hit. People loved them and I loved using up the massive zucchinis in a creative way.
2. After you’ve made this once, you’ll see it’s very easy. Boil liquid, cut zucchini, put stuff in bottom of jars and add zucchini and liquid. It’s a breeze.
3. Make sure you have the spices, measuring spoons and garlic sitting on the counter ready to be added when you need them.
4. I usually start with 2 huge zucchini and if that’s not enough, I cut up more. If I need more liquid, I just boil more water, vinegar and salt maybe halving the original amount depending how much it looks like I will need. Good way to practice your math skills. It’s only water and vinegar. If you don’t use it all, it’s not too hard to throw that away.
5. We opened last year’s jars this year and they have a lovely hot tang to them.
6. Despite the handling of the jars to load the spears, I have never had a jar not seal after the hot water bath.
Zucchini butter is the best!! I cook up several batches every summer, playing around with herbs to create different flavor profiles. When cooked down to that luscious buttery texture, I freeze it in 8 oz amounts – the perfect size for a single meal of mid-winter pasta. So far this summer, I’ve made batches with thyme and rosemary. Next up, is either oregano or cumin.
I could not find the recipe for you zucchini spread.. I would like to try it..
So are the curried pickles gonna be crunchy after opening them like regular pickles?
That depends on how thickly you slice them and how firm the starting zucchini are.
I’m looking for your recipe for squash/zucchini spread. The link to Philly Homegrown (from your post) doesn’t point to it. I’ve searched your site, and must try it!!! Can you post link?
Oh no! Looks like they took that site down. Here’s the recipe.
Zucchini Butter
Makes 2 half pints
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
5 garlic cloves, gently smashed
2 large zucchini, cut into a 1/2 inch/5 cm cubes (about 2 pounds/910 g)
5-6 springs of thyme
1/2 teaspoon finely milled sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place a large skillet over medium heat. Place the olive oil and butter and allow them to melt together. Roughly chop the smashed garlic and add it to the pan. Add the zucchini cubes. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until the zucchini has begun to soften. Strip the thyme leaves off their stems and add them to the pan.
Reduce the heat and continue to cook, stirring often. The goal is to cook the liquid out of the zucchini and melt it into a flavorful, spreadable paste. If at any point, the zucchini starts to brown and stick, add a splash of liquid (water is fine, though if you have an open bottle, a little white wine is also delicious) and reduce the heat a bit more. Total cooking time should be right around an hour.
Once cooked, divide the spread between two half pint jars. It will keep up to 2 weeks in the fridge or a year in the freezer.
Thank you so much for reposting! The zucchini are slowing down, but I still have 3 large ones mocking me in the fridge. I was holding out for this recipe!
Thank you! Just found this. Please disregard my earlier post. 🙂
Can I freeze squash whole?
You are the first person to ever ask me that. I really don’t know. I’d be afraid that it would get really slimy upon defrosting.
Google Zucchini Salsa… made a batch of it and CANNED it and it’s great… easy to make.. tastes good.. A little spicy if made as the recipe calls for… this recipe says it’s for 10 – 12 pints, but I actually got 14.
ZUCCHINI SALSA
10c Peeled Shredded Zucchini
4 onions chopped
2 green AND 2 red sweet bell peppers, chopped
1/4 c AND 1 t. Pickling Salt
2 T Dry Mustard
1 T Garlic Powder
5 c Chopped Ripe Tomatoes
12 oz. can Tomato Paste
1 T Cumin
2 c White Vinegar
1 c Brown Sugar
2 T Red Pepper Flakes (use less for milder salsa)
1 t Nutmeg
1 t. Black Pepper
2 T Cornstarch
Day one — Mix in large bowl Zucchini, onions, green and red sweet peppers (bell peppers) and 1/4 c salt. Let stand overnight.
Day two — Rinse well, drain, and put in large pot, then add remaining ingredients.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 min.
Pour into Sterilized Jars & seal (they should seal without further work)
Water bath for 15 min. if they have not sealed properly.
Just recently found your zucchini spread recipe on pinterest, made it today and it’s amazing!! Curious if you think shredding the zucchini instead of cubing it would work the same? Mine seemed a little more chunky than the picture shows.
So glad you like it! You could certainly shred it if you want!
It’s August and the zucchini is prolific. I’ll be trying some of these recipes over the coming days. Loved the photo!
I love, love, love your ideas here. I really want to try the spread, that looks and sounds delicious. I’ll leave some hints for hubby and maybe he’ll stop by the produce stand :-).
I like how you do Zucchini breads. I always make them sweet like banana bread. I like the idea of making it less sweet, then having the option to sweeten it up with honey.
Lovely article all around. After I read it, I had to link to it in my canning squash article. Have a great weekend.
All the best,
Diana
wonderful article, thank you very much.
I have a super abundance of zucchini and no freezer space. I love the idea that you can make spreads and relish out of it. However, I would like to can most of it for winter just as is or with minimum herbs as I will be using it to make breads and soups can you help ?
My garden is producing some amazing zukes, I just did up a batch of the spread (tripled the garlic) and the chocolate zucchini bread. Yummy!
I see so many different opinions about garlic, olive oil and canning, even pressure canning. Is it safe to pressure can ANYTHING in olive oil if it was cooked with garlic? I am specifically thinking of a marina recipe that roasts tomatoes, garlic onion, peppers then put in jars and pressure can. Dangerous? Also many recipes I see for zucchini involve olive oil and garlic…..safe???
Thanks