I over planted the Zucchini again this year, I’ve got five groups of 2 plants each. Needless to say, we have a lot of Zucchini right now. What are we gonna do with all this stuff? We’ve had Zucchini bread until we can’t take it anymore. We’ve baked it, fried it, grilled it, sauteed it, and even shredded it over our eggs in the morning. We’ve given it away to friends, offered it to neighbors, and even set it out on the street in a bucket with a sign that said “FREE”. Despite all of that, I’ve got about 20 fresh Zucchini that I picked yesterday, now what?

I was listening to “The Survival Podcast” a couple of days ago and in episode 930 he discussed Lacto Fermentation using a few very simple ingredients so I did a little more research and found this recipe for Zucchini pickles I thought I would share. I am going to do this over the weekend and hope to report back my success next week.

Lacto-Fermented Zucchini Pickles

This recipe is scaled to fit in a one gallon glass jar. If you don’t have one, you can scale it up or down to fit whatever vessel you have.

Ingredients:

Zucchini, as much as will fit, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 onion, sliced into rings

1-2 heads garlic, separated into cloves

2 tbsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp celery seeds

3 tbsp salt (more if necessary)

1/2 gallon water (more if necessary)

Equipment:

1 gallon jar (or a jar of any size – scale recipe accordingly)

Object to use as a weight

1. Put mustard seeds, celery seeds, and garlic cloves in the bottom of your jar.

2. Mix together onions and zucchini (I did it on the cutting board.) Add them to the jar.

3. Dissolve salt in water. Pour saltwater over the zucchini mixture. If it does not cover everything, dissolve additional salt in additional water at the same ratio of a little less than a tablespoon per cup.

4. Vegetables float in saltwater, and anything that sticks up above the saltwater brine will develop mold. To keep your pickles from molding, weight them down so they are totally submerged under the brine. I used a small jar that fits into the mouth of the larger jar. You could use a small plate, a scrubbed and boiled rock, or even a ziplock bag full of saltwater (use saltwater in case it leaks.) Just try to make sure that whatever you use pushes the pickles safely under their protective brine.

5. Wait. Try to taste your developing pickles every day. When you like the taste, eat away! This might take a few days, and it might take a few weeks. When it happens, you can pack your pickles into smaller jars and refrigerate them to slow down the fermentation process. Or, you can leave them out and experience the flavor getting stronger and stronger over time.

Here is the link to the original article with the recipe:

Lacto-Fermented Zucchini Pickles

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