Perfectly imperfect, organic, round zucchini!
My food preserving week continues….There is nothing quite like preserving your food at home. I love canning! Today, I have been working on canning up yellow squash, zucchini and tomatoes together. I’ll use these jars for making squash casserole later in the fall and winter.
I started with washing and cutting these round zucchini that I bought at the produce auction for $2 a box. I’ve been cooking these in stir-fry as well as steaming them and they have been wonderful!
I processed these jars at 10 pounds of pressure for 40 minutes. Most new canning books do not recommend canning squash so they do not have instructions for how to do it. I asked some friends and read online recommendations from other homemakers who can squash.
Squash casserole starter in a jar ready to be canned!
Both squash and zucchini can be used in many types of casseroles. You can even add squash or zucchini to meatloaf and a friend told me she adds her canned squash to her cornbread to make it extra moist.
Throughout the day, we will post some pictures of our progress.
I have been trying to find ways to use my surplus squash from our garden…I have tons!! Any chance you could post the recipe you use this squash in????
I am planning on using this in soups and squash casseroles.
For the Squash casserole:
I add eggs, salt, milk, mayo and whisk it together. I pour the mixture over the squash/zucchini and tomatoes and bake at 350. Sometimes I add cheese on top if I have it. I also sometimes add hamburger or sausage meat to it.
I don’t have an exact recipe because many times when I am cooking I alter recipes so much that I sorta make up my own.
I would love if you would give a more detailed account of how you did this. I have been looking online for a while on canning zucchini with tomatoes and most poo poo the idea or say to only use in a one to four ratio with tomatoes. I love the look of what you did as its more like what I want to do. Any advise would be very appreciated.
The USDA no longer recommends canning squash or zucchini so that is why you are having a difficult time finding recipes for canning squash and zucchini.
However, I talked to a few experienced canners around in my area about how they can squash. I also was able to search for a few blogs out there that had pictures of how they canned squash—so there is nothing “official” about canning squash or zucchini thanks to the USDA.
So unfortunately you won’t find it in the new canning books. I’ve seen recipes for canning squash in older canning books though. So with a combination of reading those recipes, talking to experienced canners and viewing other blogs that canned squash—I canned our squash.
I didn’t follow a ratio—I just started cutting and slicing and chopping and mixed up what I had….blanched it and then loaded it into my jars. I processed in a pressure canner at 10 lbs of pressure for 40 minutes.
I know that isn’t very detailed…sorry….
When I use this squash…..I will be cooking it in the oven in a casserole or cooking it again in soup—
Try emerials recipe for pickled squash at foodnetwork.com
I would also like to find the recipe, you are using .
I didn’t follow a detailed recipe… sorry.
The USDA no longer recommends canning squash and zucchini so you won’t find a recipe in the newer canning books.
I canned this squash at 10 lbs of pressure for 40 minutes…in a pressure canner. But that was only after talking to more experienced canners, seeing a few blogs that canned squash and finding a few older canning books that still had squash canning times in them.
Of course, canning times and temps and procedures have changed over the years……one year one thing may be right…the next year it isn’t. So that is unfortunately what you will run into once you start getting into canning.
Here’s a link to how I make squash casseroles:
http://pennypantry.com/in-the-kitchen/recipes-in-the-kitchen/using-up-excess-squash-and-zucchini/
I have a pile of round zucchini and would like very much to can a good part of it. I gave up last year, but seeing that you’ve done it, I’m ready. I use a bath canner for tomatoes. I know that a pressure canner is recommended for zucchini. Do you think I can use a bath canner ?
If I really cannot get away with the bath canner, we’ll have to purchase a pressure canner.
Thank you for help with this!
NO….Squash is a low acid vegetable and must be canned with a pressure canner! Vegetables and meats are low acid foods that must be canned in a pressure canner because of the heat requirements.
Using a water bath to can tomatoes is different. Tomatoes are usually a high acid food …like other fruits and do not need the pressure canner higher temps for canning. However, even tomatoes now are sometimes not even recommended for water bath canning—because they have such varying amounts of acid in them.
I have a pressure canner that I can vegetables and other low acid foods in.
For canning jams, jellies and fruits….I use my large pots and make a water bath to can in—making sure the water covers the jars and putting a kitchen cloth on the bottom of the pot for the jars to sit on.
I just finished canning 25 jars of yellow squash and now doing zucchini, I added onions and my regular seasonings (garlic, onions, salt and pepper). 10lbs pressure for 40 min in quart jars.
Turned out wonderful. I was not sure too after hearing many say no. But I was pleased.
I use zucchini and tomatoes in a lot of different casserole dishes and I know 10 # of pressure @ 40 mins is a long time for tomatoes…will that make the tomatoes soupy??? Im getting ready to freeze zucchini and i’d like to can them with the tomatoes!
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we are new to canning and we have an old book that had the pressure/time you stated, but we ended up with little to no water in our jars when we were finished so we’re wondering if we needed more water in the pot? Does the water need to be over the top of the jars? Our zucchini is cut like fries, not in rounds. Any help is appreciated!!! thanks!