Old Fashion Recipes for Preserving Garden Vegetables

There is just nothing like opening a jar of delicious pickles on a cold winter day to remind you of summer and the day you picked and canned the cucumbers that are now pickles. Or how about some yummy marmalade that you made from the abundance of zucchini in your summer garden? Here are recipes to help you make that happen! When I was a child in Southern Indiana, we planted two or three gardens and enjoyed the fruits of our labor all winter. As a young housewife, I continued that tradition. If you have never tried canning, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

BROWN SUGAR BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

1/3 cup salt
2 cups brown sugar
3 cups white sugar
3 cups apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp mustard seed
1 tbsp celery seed
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
2 lb sliced onions, separated into rings
20-25 cucumbers
8 cups ice

Scrub cucumbers and slice into thin slices. Put the cucumbers and onion rings into a large pan and pour the salt over the vegetables. Add the ice over the top and let soak for 3 hours. After the three hours, drain the water from the vegetables but do not rinse off the salt. Put the cucumbers and onions back into large pan. Mix the brown sugar, white sugar, vinegar, mustard seed, celery seed, and turmeric together. Pour the mixture over the cucumbers and onions. Cook over medium-high heat until the cucumbers lose their bright green color. Put mixture into hot pint jars and seal with hot lids and rings. Be sure jars seal. You will hear a popping sound when jars seal and the center of the lid will indent slightly.

ZUCCHINI MARMALADE

6 cups grated zucchini, peeled
No. 2 can crushed pineapple with juice
1 box Sure-Jell
6 cups sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 box (6-oz) apricot gelatin

Mix zucchini and sugar and let stand 10 minutes. Cook 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the crushed pineapple and its juice. Also add the Sure-Jell. Cook another 6 minutes after beginning to boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add apricot gelatin. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Put into container and put in freezer or put in hot jelly jars and seal with lids and bands that have been boiled. Be sure jars seal; refrigerate any jars that do not seal.

Enjoy!