Wednesday, July 30, 2008

CANNING, PART II

Tonight, my domestic adventure continues with the canning of the zucchini relish.

The zucchini/onion/salt mixture rested overnight in the refrigerator. The next step was to rinse the salt off of the zucchini and drain any excess fluid. Grammy took care of that ...

... while I mixed together a concoction of spices, sugar, vinegar, red bell peppers, and green bell peppers.

Then, we combined the concoction with the zucchini/onion mixture and heated it slowly on the stove, stirring non-stop to keep it from sticking. Love that deformed, claw-like hand position? Nothing disturbing about that ... Note that I am also multi-tasking with my freshly-bathed Cakes on my arm. She was a little grumpy tonight, and didn't want anyone but Mommy.


Why does my elbow look so pointy in that picture?

The rest of the canning process was a collaberative effort by Grampy and Grammy. I am notorious for burning the daylights out of myself (just ask my nubby kitchen aloe), so I left all the hot stuff to them.

Grammy removed the jars that were warming in the oven. She quickly ladled the hot zucchini relish into the hot jars.

Then, Grampy used tongs to take the hot lids out of a pan of boiling water and screw them onto the hot jars filled with the hot relish. They're moving quickly because, well, have I mentioned that everything is hot?

Grampy placed the hot jars in a huge pot of boiling water with a special canning rack inside. They sat in the covered pot for 15 minutes. I was in charge of lifting and replacing the lid on the big pot of boiling water.

I had to go put the kids to bed at this point, so I'm not sure who did what or how. I do know, however, that when I emerged from the bedroom, all the jars were out of the boiling water and cooling on a towel on the kitchen counter. Apparently, as the jars cooled, each one made a popping sound as the cooling process suctioned the canning lid in.

And here they are!

And now, I'm hoping that someone else will clean the disaster that is my kitchen while I'm upstairs blogging ...

7 comments:

Muthering Heights said...

Wow, it looks like it turned out well! What do you eat it with?

Life in the Crazy Lane said...

My family eats it with hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. Since I'm veg, I eat it with veggie burgers, veggie dogs, etc.; basically, with barbecue/picnic food.

Oceanchild said...

I just left a comment asking how you use the relish on part 1. I guess I know now. It looks like a lot of work and a lot of clean up, but I bet it tastes great!

Kara said...

Yummy! Canning is definitly a lot of work, but worth it!

Holly said...

Thanks for sharing, I've always thought this would be a good idea but it sure looks intimidating. I bet it's lots of fun when you do it with multiple people/family.

kyrandavid said...

soooo...do one of those treasured jars wanna' live in my house? it is your little brother's favorite ;) Seriously, good work!

life, in recipes said...

Thanks for the comment on my canning post. It is a lot of work, but the outcome is worth it.

The white thing in the last pic on my post was a life-saver. I was only $7, and I don't think I would have attempted to can again if I hadn't had it in the first place. It definitely made things a lot easier. It was next to the mason jars at our local ace hardware - you should definitely get one.

I'll have to try your relish recipe - it looks great!