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Zucchini pickles (gluten-free + vegan)

Based on the more common bread and butter pickles -which is made with cucumbers (see my recipe linked below)- this zucchini/courgette version retains all the same characteristics of a good cucumber pickle and is the perfect way to deal with a glut of courgette! I favour small-medium courgette to pickle as the texture is firmer than large ones and if you have a mandolin, they come in handy with all that slicing. The trick to getting a good seal on this simple pickle without having to muck around with water baths, is to have everything hot. Hot jars, hot lids, hot pickling liquid. For this reason, I only pull one jar out of the oven at a time, to pack and seal. I recommend using lids with the little bumps on the top, so you can clearly see if they’ve sealed or not. Start this recipe a day ahead, to allow time to salt the sliced zucchini/courgette. Please note I use both zucchini and courgette interchangeably (they're the same thing, just called different things in different countries).
Servings: 5 medium jars

Ingredients

  • 1kg medium zucchini/courgette
  • 1 medium onion finely sliced
  • 3 tablespoons fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
  • 480ml apple cider vinegar
  • 120ml water preferably filtered
  • 150g (3/4 cup) golden caster or raw sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

Instructions

  • Finely slice courgette to approx. 3mm thick, if you have a mandolin it makes the job quick and easy. Transfer to a glass or ceramic bowl, add onion and salt and mix thoroughly with your hands to distribute the salt evenly. Cover and leave on your benchtop overnight.
  • The following day, preheat oven to 120C. Place 5 x 300ml freshly cleaned jars into the oven and heat for 20 minutes to sterilise. When nearly ready to fill jars, place the lids into a saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer 5 minutes.
  • Transfer courgette/onion mixture to a colander and rinse well with cold water. Allow to drain, then transfer to a clean tea towel. Spread mixture out in a thin layer over half of the tea towel, then fold over towel and gently pat to remove excess water.
  • Transfer courgette/onion to a large bowl. Add mustard seeds and mix through.
  • Combine vinegar, water, sugar and turmeric in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once boiling, turn down to the lowest setting to keep it hot until needed.
  • One at a time, remove a jar from the oven, pack it with the courgette/onion mixture, ladle in enough pickling liquid to cover. Quickly run a knife or skewer around the inside of the jar, to remove air bubbles, then top up with a more picking liquid if needed. Screw on a lid (tight but not overly so), then set aside and repeat with remaining jars.
  • The lids will suck down and seal as the jars cool. If any don’t suck down, store them in the fridge and use within 2 weeks. If sealed correctly, jars will store happily in a cool dark place for up to 12 months, although they do tend to lose their crunch after about 6 months.

Notes

This recipe was first created for and featured in On The Land magazine, NZ. 
Bread and Butter Pickles recipe HERE.