As far as I know (and please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) but there is no way to really “preserve” zuchinni. You can’t can it…and really, that’s okay because it sounds like it would be gross anyway. But you CAN freeze it as long as you do it right. So, here is what you need to do to be able to use fresh garden zuchinni all year round.
First, pick your zuchinni, rinse them and cut off the stem end.
Shred your zuchinni.
Measure out 1 cup portions of shreddd zuchinni. You'll thank me.
Now you have a bag full of zuchinni ready to use at any moment- Just pull out of the freezer, let thaw and add into your recipes!
You can do your 1 cup portions any way you want, I used a small square of plastic wrap and added the zuchinni into the center, then I folded the corners in and made cute little packages.
Here’s a zuchinni recipe to start you off:
Zuchinni Pancakes- Very Healthy!
1 cup flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
1/3 cup ground flax seeds (if you don’t have it, replace with flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Sift together all dry ingredients. Then add:
1 egg
1 Tb honey
1 c milk
2 Tb melted coconut oil
1 c shredded zuchinni- Hey! Look at that…you have 1 cup portions of shredded zuchinni already prepared in your freezer!
Mix all together, drop onto hot skillet. Will make about 9 pancakes using about 1/3 c of batter. You can also add chocolate chips to this and it’s really yummy.
Oh, can’t wait to try out your pancake recipe! Another thing that I like to do with shredded zucchini is to freeze it in ice cube trays. In the winter when I am making a lot of soups I pop two or three “zucchini cubes” into my broth. It is a nice thickener and the kids don’t know that they are eating good veggies!
Yet another great idea from you Kristi! We have zucchini coming out of our ears and I have no idea what to do with such great amounts of it. As fast as we eat it, there are several more each day. I will try your freezing method and see what I can add it to in the winter.