Sheree's Homemade Cooking Made Easy

A Lot of people have never heard of squash pickles, but this is a recipe that my momma and granny canned every year while I was growing up and me and my mom still can it today. I grew up growing a lot of the food we ate, and this was one of the ways that we preserved squash so that it was good for the whole year. You will need the following ingredients:

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Recipe:

5 cups of squash

1 cup of onions

1/2 cup bell peppers

1 teaspoon of canning salt

1/2 teaspoon of alum

2 cups of white vinegar

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Wash and cut the ends from the squash.

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Slice the squash into thin slices. Add these to a large glass bowl.

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Chop the bell pepper up. Add it to the squash.

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Slice the onions into thin slices. Add these to the bowl with the squash and peppers.

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Step 1:

In a large glass bowl or stainless bowl mix the squash, onions, and bell peppers with the salt and alum and set aside for 1 hour.

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Drain the liquid off after 1 hour.

Before beginning the next step fill your water bath canner up and go ahead and begin heating it on the stove. Don’t boil. Just get the water hot.

Tip: You want to make sure that the water temperature in the water bath canner is about the same temperature as the squash pickles so that you have a lesser chance of the jars breaking.

Step 2:

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

In a saucepan mix together the vinegar, sugar, celery seed, and mustard seed and bring to a boil and boil together for 5 minutes.

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Place the squash, onions, and bell peppers in a jar.

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Then pour the boiling liquid over the top.

Squash PicklesPhoto bySheree

Process this in a water bath and boil for 10 minutes. Remove very carefully from the water and place onto a towel and leave them for 24 hours before moving. Remove the rings and label these jars. Enjoy!

Note: If you want these to be a little spicy add jalapenos instead of bell peppers.

Tip: As with all home canned foods, make sure they are sealed before you eat them and give them the smell test to be double sure.

These are so delicious and crunchy when you open them. They are great with a dinner of vegetables, or just as a condiment on salads.