Summer Squash Relish

Making squash relish out of your bumper crop zucchini and yellow squash is a great way to preserve your harvest. Squash relish is delicious served along side any southern meal or a top a hot dog or smoked sausage.

Anyone who has a garden and has planted summer squash knows by summer's end that you usually have zucchini and yellow squash coming out of your ears.  Zucchini is one of the most plentiful veggies you can plant in summer garden and at times they seem to grow overnight. 

Pretty soon you start to run out of things to make and find yourself searching for new ways to incorporate all that summer squash. There is always the basic recipes,  zucchini bread, chocolate zucchini bread, brownies or as a side dish, but have you ever tasted Squash Relish?  

The first time I tasted this delicious relish was at my Mother in laws house. I love zucchini and yellow squash so I gave it a try and I have loved it ever since! Even my oldest son likes it and that's hard to believe. This colorful relish compliments any southern meal and is wonderful to have on hand. Making and canning squash relish is also a great way to preserve your harvest. 

The hardest part about this whole recipe is chopping up all the vegetables, especially the onion, but after that it came together quite easily. If you have a food processor, it will go even faster. Canning season is finally coming to an end and I have plenty of canned goods to put up for winter. Save a couple jars for over the holidays because they make wonderful gifts from your kitchen. 

I like to use a combination of bell peppers when I make this relish. My favorite are yellow and red. 

Finely, dice up all the vegetables and place into a bowl with cold water. I did not dice up the onion and peppers until the next morning. Add the canning salt and mix to blend. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. 

In the morning, drain and thoroughly rinse vegetables under cold running water and strain in a fine strainer. Set the mixture aside to fully drain.  

In a large stock pot add the sugar, vinegar, water, bay leaf and spices. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until sugar dissolves. 

Add the squash and veggie mixture into the brine.

Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat discard the bay leaf.

Ladle the mixture into hot, sterilized jars. Divide any remaining brine into each of the jars leaving a 1/4 inch head space. Wipe the rims with a clean dish cloth that has been dipped in hot water and make sure any liquid is wiped off the rims of the jars. Add the lids and rings to the jars and finger tip tighten. Don't tighten the jars too much or the lids will buckle when processed. 

Lower the jars into the hot water bath canner and process the jars (10 minutes for pints and 5 minutes for half pints).  Remove jars from hot water bath canner and place on the counter lined with a dish towel to cool. Listen for the jars to ping and test the lids to make sure the jars have sealed. Leave the jars on the counter for 24 hours before removing the rings and wiping down the jars for storage. 

recipe source: Louise Butler

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