While I was away in Washington, Alan did a great job of watering the garden. So great, in fact, he managed to grow (unknowingly) a 5 pound zucchini! It was a MONSTER! Knowing it would be too tough to enjoy sauted, I had to come up with some other way to use it, and I already have enough frozen grated zucchini for bread recipes for the rest of the year. I thought I remembered a way to make candy out of zucchini, so I did a quick google search for candied zucchini and found several sites that mentioned recipes. Perfect!
Here's how I made candied zucchini...
First I peeled the monster, spooned out the seeds and soft center, and chopped it up into about 1"x1" cubes. I ended up with about 8 or 9 cups of zucchini cubes.
I added the cubes to 6 cups water (I saw recipes with as little as 3 cups water, and I will try using less water next time I make a batch), 2 1/2 cups sugar, and 2 packets of black cherry kool-aid drink mix. I brought the mixture to a boil, turned the heat down to medium, and let it cook for about an hour.
When the cubes were slightly "transparent" looking, I spooned them out of the mixture. I spread the ruby cubes on the racks of the food dehydrator, set the temp for 125, and let it sit for about 16 hours.
They really condenced down!
Once the cubes were no longer sticky, I tossed them in a baggie containing a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar and a bit of corn starch. After shaking them around to get them well coated, I poured the sugared cubes into a fine mesh colander, shook off the excess powdered coating into the sink, and poured them into a dish. Delish! Zucchini candy!
What's amazing is that the once 5 pound zucchini now fits in a pint sized jar.
Wow, I'm gonna have to try this next year! Never seen or heard of it before.
Posted by: Journey11 | September 23, 2010 at 10:40 PM
no way Jose! I'll have to give this a try!
Posted by: Dawn Lusk | September 15, 2010 at 08:18 PM
just to let you know, you can toss grated zucchini into almost anything - spagetti sauce, soups, hamburger gravy. you can also use it in place of spagetti noodles if you grate it lengthways to make long pieces (great for diabetics) mix with regular angel hair pasta to get more veggies into kids (or grownups)
after you thaw it, depending on what you want to do, i found it best to squeeze all the water out i could.
Posted by: badfairie | September 04, 2010 at 09:36 PM
I would also like to know how it tastes - is it good? Is it chewy? Can you taste anything but the black cherry kool aid? Is it good enough to make again or is it not worth it? Very interesting! Thanks for the info, never heard of doing this with zucchini before.
Posted by: Abbey97 | August 26, 2010 at 05:32 PM
Anna, what does it taste like?
Hugs,
Di
Posted by: Diana Gibbs | August 26, 2010 at 03:57 PM
Wow, what at way to use a food dehydrator. Never heard of this before.
Posted by: mary dahlberg | August 25, 2010 at 07:39 PM
That's really interesting - never heard of zucchini candy. Loved your pics of the new chicks & that butterfly is beautiful. Heard you should be cooling down, hope so for everyone's sake. Hugs.
Posted by: Troy Louise | August 25, 2010 at 02:48 PM
Well that is a new one on ME! I did not know you could turn zucchini into candy! But it sounds fascinating, and I would certainly try a piece! Anything with black cherry kool-aid and sugar has got to be good! LOL
You amaze me with your desire to never let anything go to waste! I applaud your efforts. You are just a wonderful human being. Even at your age, I don't know if I'd have had enough energy to do all the things that you do!
Have a great afternoon and evening. I hope your temps are cooler there today. :D
Posted by: diane mcvey | August 25, 2010 at 11:50 AM
I think I'll stick with Aplets and Cotlets!
Posted by: kathynruss | August 25, 2010 at 05:44 AM
Wow... never heard of it... now I would love to try it! Now I wish I had grown zucchini this year!
Posted by: Diane | August 25, 2010 at 05:34 AM
Zucchini candy ... you never cease to amaze, Anna!
Posted by: bonnie weiss | August 25, 2010 at 04:12 AM
"Who'da thunk", zucchini candy?-looks delish!
Posted by: Bev J. | August 25, 2010 at 03:49 AM
How perfectly fascinating! My zucchini has done pitifully this year; if I EVER get a bumper crop again I'll HAVE to make this!
Posted by: michelle | August 24, 2010 at 09:27 PM
You amaze me. And now you know the secret to shrinking a 5-lb. zucchini!
Posted by: Shellie Daniel | August 24, 2010 at 08:43 PM
Anna, has anyone ever mentioned that you have waaaaaaaaaay too much energy?
I think I would have saved on electricity and stuck the zucchini pieces outside on racks under some cheesecloth to dry. :)
Posted by: Shala | August 24, 2010 at 08:08 PM
who would have thunk...never heard of zuchinni candy,,I may have to try that recipe sometime...thanks Anna!!!!
Posted by: Kellie | August 24, 2010 at 06:47 PM
Since the vines have all been attacked by those Darn Squash beetles I will have to save this idea for next summer and hopefully a larger Z Crop! Looks worth a try :) Hugs...
Posted by: Carol Dee | August 24, 2010 at 04:14 PM
I've never heard of candied zucchini - sounds and looks good! I do love Black Cherry Kool-Aid though :)
Posted by: Jennifer K. | August 24, 2010 at 01:35 PM
So... did you try it? Was it delish? Oh man, to go from a 5 lb. chunk to a little pint size jar? But tell me, was it worth it??? Judy
Posted by: Judy | August 24, 2010 at 01:16 PM
I'm going to try this ,looks great. I make zucchini relish out of most of my extras, In the Ball canning book.
Posted by: Taunia | August 24, 2010 at 01:05 PM
This is one of my very favorite candied zucchini recipes. Your photos flood me with warm memories of my youth, enjoying candied yams, pumpkin, pineapple, mango, tamarind, and others. I wish I knew how to translate "biznaga" into English. It was my very favorite candied vegetable.
Posted by: Gabriela (Gabi With An Eye) | August 24, 2010 at 12:21 PM
Sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Beth M | August 24, 2010 at 12:13 PM