It is not actually overloaded yet, but on a daily basis now I go out to my little patch of earth to see what else is happening out there ---- as if a fairy waved a magic wand or they were vegetable rabbits or something, the zucchinis have just gone crazy out there. It seems there are more and more each day and not wanting to waste all this homegrown goodness and knowing I have months of frozen snow ahead of me, I had to figure out what to do with them now....a zucchini is a terrible thing to waste.

It has a lot of really great attributes, such as being loaded with vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B1, B2, iron, niacin, foliate - and is low on calories too because of its high water content. How could I just let all of this go to waste when in the winter, three zucchini would cost me $5 at the store??? Something to think about here.....

I drove to my neighbors house where I used to live and surveyed her garden, which is much larger and she has three times the amount of zucchini I do and just wasn't sure what to do with it either...

We discussed the facts of canning, freezing, dehydrating....but in my search today for the best method, I came up with this one.   There are so many recipes for different kinds of zucchini bread out there it boggled my mind.  But then I thought to myself, well, we buy extra loaves of bread at the store and freeze it for later use, why not zucchini bread as well??    Sounds like a plan to me...I actually found a recipe for blueberry zucchini bread which looked really scrumptious and since I have been buying blueberries and freezing them for winter, I have plenty of fresh in house. 

I found a recipe for zucchini brownies and a wonderful recipe for stuffed zucchini.  All of these can be frozen....But a lot of time spent in the kitchen to boot, which I do not mind at all, I love to bake....and what goodies in the middle of winter !!   

There is no set method to preserve it, as in my research, I found out many things, but I will tell you I just wanted to can it.  But it has to be mixed with other things it seems to do that..  I found out you can dehydrate it and serve it as potatoe chips.  What a novelty!  Zucchini chips and dip!  This sounded like a great idea, but I have no dehydrator.  

Next on the list and the most easy thing to do outside of baking to the oldies, would be to freeze it and this is really simple. You just pull it when it is young...and a young zucchini to me has the most flavor!  Wash it and cut it inot 1/2 inch slices   Blanch it in water for 3 minutes and immediately cool it in ice cold water before draining.....package it in freezer bags or containers, leaving 1/2 inch of head space and seal up.  Now, I am not sure if this will produce mushy veggies or not, but it would seem to be the easiest way to keep it.   

Then there is grating and freezing:   Again you pick the young ones, wash and grate; then steam blanch in small batches for one to two minutes.   For use in recipes at a later date, pack into containers (measuring the amount first of course) and cool the container in cold water then freeze. 

I guess this is where the zip lock freezer bag company makes all it's milllions, right???

And here is a recipe for zucchini pickles:  

Zucchini pickles
Yield: 4 half-pints
 

2 pounds zucchini, sliced (about 8 small)
1/3 pound onion, quartered and sliced (about 1 small)
1/4 cup canning salt
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons mustard seed
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
3 cups vinegar
 

Combine zucchini and onion in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain mixture, then rinse and drain again. Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour vinegar mixture over zucchini and onions and let stand 2 hours. Bring all ingredients to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer 5 minutes. Pack hot zucchini and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps and process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

There are ultimate methods I found to use up all of the goodies in my garden and I am not sure which one of them would be the best, I guess this should be left up to the individual and their own taste buds....But I do know I am going back out to the garden in a moment and begin to pull those zucchini so as not to let the bugs or deer, crows, sqirrel or whatever crawls in the garden when I am not looking eat them instead!!!