Food Do You Can Summer Squash? How

[Rabbit]

I have been cutting up yellow summer squash and holding it in the freezer until I decide what to do with it.
I've read there is no approved method for canning it, but cut up and cubed it is not as dense as the potatoes I've canned so what's the problem?
Tell me what you do with it and how many years you have done it. I definitely need to hear from those who have experience putting it up. TIA

 

[duchess47]

I have never canned it. Alway froze or dehydrated.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I have been cutting up yellow summer squash and holding it in the freezer until I decide what to do with it.
I've read there is no approved method for canning it, but cut up and cubed it is not as dense as the potatoes I've canned so what's the problem?
Tell me what you do with it and how many years you have done it. I definitely need to hear from those who have experience putting it up. TIA

If I have an abundance of yellow summer squash, this will be my first year canning it. I've always frozen it, but I want to try canning some with onions. My digital pressure canner is different from regular pressure canners, so my recipe might be different. I'll chunk the squash up. Put it pot large enough to hold enough water to cover the squash. Bring to boil and simmer 2 minutes. Pack hot jars with squash and fill jar within 1 inch of the rim with the hot boiling liquid. Put on seals and rings and can at 10 lbs pressure for 30 minutes.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Alot of my family like pickled squash which is the yellow crookneck squash sliced then with thin slices of onion and all of the other pickle yada yada that goes in it. The only way I will eat yellow squash beyond it being in soups, is breaded and fried.

 

[momma_soapmaker]

I've pickled it before and canned, but I'm not a big squash eater. My family has always just fried it.

 

[Rabbit]

I grew a new variety called Prolific Straight Neck. Usually, the vine borers wipe me out by the time I get a few squashes. These plants are so strong the vine borers don't even slow them down and I've never grown so much squash in my life.

We have had so much rain here this spring and my garden is more bountiful than I remember it ever being. I feel like Joseph in Egypt and I don't want anything going to waste.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Alot of my family like pickled squash which is the yellow crookneck squash sliced then with thin slices of onion and all of the other pickle yada yada that goes in it. The only way I will eat yellow squash beyond it being in soups, is breaded and fried.

Mom and Dad loved making their yellow summer squash pickles and yellow squash relish (Think Chow Chow). I like it boiled with onions, baked or grilled with lots of butter and garlic powder, but my favorite is to slice, bread, and fry it.

 

[kyrsyan]

The cut squash is a low acid so it must be pressure canned. But it turns to mush in the pressure canner which results in inconsistent thickness. Inconsistent thickness means it doesn't heat consistently throughout and may result in botulism toxin not being destroyed.

There are good recipes for pickling it.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Some say it's safe to can and others don't. Maybe, we can get Summerthyme to weigh in on it. If anyone knows, she does.

 

[aviax2]

I’ve only ever canned small amounts of yellow squash or zucchini in vegetable soup. I don’t believe that’s it’s unsafe to can it, just that it gets really soft. An old canning book just states that freezing results in a better product. A relative of my husband used to can it but I’m thinking she only used it in a casserole.

We only have two plants and DH has been picking it very small, but we’re still getting enough to use in meals most nights and I’ve also been freezing some along. I used some in squash fritters last night, and twice this week I’ve experimented with a cabbage and squash casserole. My favorite is cooking the squash with onion, seasonings in a bit of oil and butter in a skillet until just tender.

One of our two zucchini plants died but we’ve still enjoyed a few meals with some. My favorite zucchini dish is with stewed tomatoes, that I’ve made a couple of times already.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Some say it's safe to can and others don't. Maybe, we can get Summerthyme to weigh in on it. If anyone knows, she does.

My experience is it turns to slime when you can it, sorta like cucumbers do, if you don't brine it first.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

My experience is it turns to slime when you can it, sorta like cucumbers do, if you don't brine it first.

Safe or not, I will probably just go ahead and freeze mine. I like the canned yellow squash with onions from the grocery store, but they are a lot softer than I prefer. If canning them myself won't change the mush factor, I'd rather freeze them, instead. I don't like squash pickles or relish, so that's not an option for me.

 

[aviax2]

Safe or not, I will probably just go ahead and freeze mine. I like the canned yellow squash with onions from the grocery store, but they are a lot softer than I prefer. If canning them myself won't change the mush factor, I'd rather freeze them, instead. I don't like squash pickles or relish, so that's not an option for me.

I’ve cooked onions and yellow squash in butter just a small amount of time, cooled and vacuumed packed and froze. It will be softer than fresh but nothing like canned. I put it up that way to use in a squash and cornbread casserole, that way all I had to do was thaw it a little and add to the rest of ingredients.

I prefer the squash to have more texture so I always just cooked my squash and onion (from fresh) in butter in a skillet (with a tiny bit of oil to keep the butter from burning) as a side.

 

[WalknTrot]

I'd only grow zucchini, and even then, under duress, as I find it a mostly useless water-bag of a vegetable. (Same deal with all summer squash).

When I have too much zucchini to make and freeze zucchini bread, I have made and canned pickle relish from it. Use the recipe in the Ball Blue Book for cucumber sweet pickle relish and sub in zucchini. It works, (the zucchini gets brined in the recipe) and really the only useful thing I've found for it. I do go through a fair amount of pickle relish in a year and the stuff costs money in the stores.

 

[aviax2]

I'd only grow zucchini, and even then, under duress, as I find it a mostly useless water-bag of a vegetable. (Same deal with all summer squash).

When I have too much zucchini to make and freeze zucchini bread, I have made and canned pickle relish from it. Use the recipe in the Ball Blue Book for cucumber sweet pickle relish and sub in zucchini. It works, (the zucchini gets brined in the recipe) and really the only useful thing I've found for it. I do go through a fair amount of pickle relish in a year and the stuff costs money in the stores.

I always get so tickled at people that act like the world is going to end if they don’t find someway to process those zucchini’s that are almost as large as a baseball bat! Why? At that point the chickens generally don’t even want it. I do like the small ones but yes, they can be very watery.

 

[Kathy in FL]

I always get so tickled at people that act like the world is going to end if they don’t find someway to process those zucchini’s that are almost as large as a baseball bat! Why? At that point the chickens generally don’t even want it. I do like the small ones but yes, they can be very watery.

There is a pickly I grew up eating that you only used those huge cucumbers with. It was called End of the Garden Pickles. My grandmother used to make jars of the stuff in the years we couldn't get stuff used before it got "over ripe." My mom used to as well but she hasn't had a garden in years and you just don't find those cucumbers in the farmer's market.

Grit has a version that uses multiple veggies in it but that isn't the one that I grew up eating.

End-of-the-Garden Homemade Pickle Recipe - Grit

Try making this easy end-of-the-garden homemade pickle recipe for vegetables you need to use up from the garden.

www.grit.com

It also isn't the Mennonite version which has green tomatoes in it.

End of the Garden Pickle (Mennonite)

- End of the Garden Pickle (Mennonite)

www.bigoven.com

I'll have to ask my mom if she can lay hands on the recipe because I can't at the moment. I do remember that you take those giant end of the season cucumbers, peel and seed them, chop them so that each piece is about the size of your pinkie finger from the nail back to the first knuckle or maybe a little bigger. And they were a kind of sweet pickle. I tell you they were divine on the relish tray that get set out when guests dropped by or for holiday buffets. Weren't bad any other time either. And I'm not a pickle eater.

 

[Genevieve]

I always get so tickled at people that act like the world is going to end if they don’t find someway to process those zucchini’s that are almost as large as a baseball bat! Why? At that point the chickens generally don’t even want it. I do like the small ones but yes, they can be very watery.

They can dehydrate it, grind it and make Amish flour out of it to stretch their flour, using it for breading for frying foods, use it to make tortillas. They don't have to go to waste

 

[aviax2]

They can dehydrate it, grind it and make Amish flour out of it to stretch their flour, using it for breading for frying foods, use it to make tortillas. They don't have to go to waste

Yes I know.

 

[WalknTrot]

There is a pickly I grew up eating that you only used those huge cucumbers with. It was called End of the Garden Pickles. My grandmother used to make jars of the stuff in the years we couldn't get stuff used before it got "over ripe." My mom used to as well but she hasn't had a garden in years and you just don't find those cucumbers in the farmer's market.

Grit has a version that uses multiple veggies in it but that isn't the one that I grew up eating.

End-of-the-Garden Homemade Pickle Recipe - Grit

Try making this easy end-of-the-garden homemade pickle recipe for vegetables you need to use up from the garden.

www.grit.com

It also isn't the Mennonite version which has green tomatoes in it.

End of the Garden Pickle (Mennonite)

- End of the Garden Pickle (Mennonite)

www.bigoven.com

I'll have to ask my mom if she can lay hands on the recipe because I can't at the moment. I do remember that you take those giant end of the season cucumbers, peel and seed them, chop them so that each piece is about the size of your pinkie finger from the nail back to the first knuckle or maybe a little bigger. And they were a kind of sweet pickle. I tell you they were divine on the relish tray that get set out when guests dropped by or for holiday buffets. Weren't bad any other time either. And I'm not a pickle eater.

My grandma had a lime pickle recipe I've made (not lately) that requires those overgrown cucumbers - peeled and seeded. They are my favorite pickle since I was old enough to eat Grandma's canned treats! - most people have never seen the like.

They are a huge amount of work, and IIRC, it takes about three days to get to the canning stage because they sit in the fridge in lime-water to crisp up, then they have to soak so the lime gets washed/soaked out. They come out translucent, like some watermelon pickles do, and the flavor is very intense sweet/sharp and super crispy. She always used green food coloring in them, so they end up looking gorgeous besides.

 

[Kathy in FL]

My grandma had a lime pickle recipe I've made (not lately) that requires those overgrown cucumbers - peeled and seeded. They are my favorite pickle since I was old enough to eat Grandma's canned treats! - most people have never seen the like.

They are a huge amount of work, and IIRC, it takes about three days to get to the canning stage because they sit in the fridge in lime-water to crisp up, then they have to soak so the lime gets washed/soaked out. They come out translucent, like some watermelon pickles do, and the flavor is very intense sweet/sharp and super crispy. She always used green food coloring in them, so they end up looking gorgeous besides.

the end result sounds very similar.

 

[herbgarden]

I have canned zucchini. Usually with tomatoes. I have canned it plain to use in soups or ratatouille. It works well those. I have limited freezer space

 

[packyderms_wife]

My grandma had a lime pickle recipe I've made (not lately) that requires those overgrown cucumbers - peeled and seeded. They are my favorite pickle since I was old enough to eat Grandma's canned treats! - most people have never seen the like.

They are a huge amount of work, and IIRC, it takes about three days to get to the canning stage because they sit in the fridge in lime-water to crisp up, then they have to soak so the lime gets washed/soaked out. They come out translucent, like some watermelon pickles do, and the flavor is very intense sweet/sharp and super crispy. She always used green food coloring in them, so they end up looking gorgeous besides.

I make these and another version called christmas lime pickles where you add a lot of cinnamon and red hots candies!

 

[herbgarden]

I cut in 1 inch cubes ,boil for 5 min and pressure can for 35 min for pints and 40 min for qts at 10 lb pressure. If I put in soups that I can ,I add it when I make the soup and cook according to what the type of soup requires

 

[nomifyle]

I lived in the city so long I can't remember if anyone ever fried yellow squash, I only remember it stewed with onions and I love that. It was just a little while back that I ate it fried and naturally that's the only way DH will eat it. Its tasty but I wouldn't go out of my way for it and I'm definitely not frying it, Dh does that for himself.

 

[Rabbit]

What I have decided to do is saute some onions in butter and add the squash, partially cook it and then freeze it. Once it is frozen I will vacuum seal it. I am freezing it all in flat containers so the final product will stack easily and not take up too much space. Hopefully, it won't get mushy.

Plus I have an abundance of sweet onions that don't store as long as I want them to either. I sure hope this works because it is a lot to do and I am tired.
Thank you all for your kind replies.