The saga of the zucchini continues; just one plant is producing way too much for me to deal with, but I'm valiantly trying to keep up. The problem is that if I skip picking them for one day then I'm greeted by monsters like this the next day; I've never seen anything grow so quick.

This morning I found 4 of them, so I spent the morning grating them, and salted them to get a lot of the water out. Then I made fritters and a double batch of Zucchini slice, and froze the rest for later. And tomorrow there will be more of them to deal with.

I'm leaving the squash to dry on the vine, and see if they develop thicker skins; it will help if I can just leave them for a while and give me a chance to use some of the ones on my kitchen table. The problem with really prolific plants is that all my friends have their own harvest, so I can't unload mine anywhere.

The recipe for the Zucchini relish was really easy, and it makes a nice fresh tasting accompaniment to cold meats. It's really wonderful with cheese though, I can eat half a jar with cheese and crackers for lunch, and Mereth has it on a cheese sandwich. We've gone through three jars already, so I may have to make another batch quick smart.

Don't you just love those little Mason jars? I got them from the Redback Trading Company here in Australia, and I'd like to invest in a few more of these smaller sizes. It makes no sense for me to open a big jar of anything, so it's wonderful to have a serving that's just right for me on my own.

Zucchini Relish

Use the coarse blade of the food processor to mince all the vegetables.

4 cups minced zucchini

3 cups minced carrots

4.5 cups minced onions

1.5 cups minced red or green peppers

1/4 cup salt (this is necessary for preserving, and it's spread amongst 13 cups of veggies)

2.25 cups vinegar

.75 cup sugar

1 tbspn celery seed

1 tbspn white mustard seed

3/4 tspn dry mustard ( put a whole tspn in, why muck about!)

Put everything in a large saucepan and cook for half an hour, or till the liquid is reduced by half. (It should look like a wet veggie mix rather than a soup.) Pack into sterilised jars while still hot, seal and process in a water bath for 20 minutes.