If you are like me and have zucchini growing out your ears (jk) this summer! This zucchini pineapple canning recipe or zucchini pineapple is a great way to preserve your zucchini harvest to enjoy throughout the year! (Printable recipe card at the bottom.)
This Zucchini Pineapple canning recipe is one of my favorite ways to preserve the abundant crop of zucchini we get every year. Even if I only plant one zucchini plant, we end up with more zucchini than we could possibly eat come July!
This recipe is super easy to make and only takes a few minutes to prep, 20 minutes to simmer, and 15 minutes to water bath (adjust that time for your altitude.) This is a great recipe to add variety to your home food storage!
There are only so many ways to preserve zucchini, especially ways that you will actually enjoy using it later! One is a zucchini relish, but let us be real here… How much relish can you really eat? Not nearly enough to justify making more than one batch of it.
However, Pineapple Zucchini is much easier to use on a regular basis and in everyday salads, jellos, desserts, Hawaiian pizza, haystacks, and other yummy recipes!
What is Zucchini Pineapple?
Zucchini Pineapple is an approved USDA recipe that transforms regular zucchini into a mock pineapple. It’s zucchini that has been peeled, cubed, or shredded, and simmered in pineapple (and lemon) juice. The zucchini takes on the flavor of the juice, and tastes like pineapple! Zucchini pineapple is also called Mock Pineapple and Faux Pineapple.
The texture is a little different from real pineapple, but you can use pineapple zucchini in place of pineapple in salads, and recipes like Hawaiian haystacks and pineapple upside-down cake! (Or eat it plain like my 3-year-old!)
This recipe yields 8-pint jars or 16 half-pint jars.
4 Simple Ingredients
4 quarts of peeled (and seeded) zucchini
1 1/2 cup lemon juice
46 oz can of pineapple juice
3 cups sugar (this is not a necessary ingredient for safety and may be omitted or reduced.)
Tools You Will Need
To make zucchini pineapple, you’ll need a few tools that you may already have for canning, and processing the zucchini.
- a water bath canner
- pint or half pint canning jars and new lids
- a ladle
- a funnel
- canning grips
- magnet lid grabber
- peeler
- knife
- cutting board
How To Make Zucchini Pineapple Canning Recipe
- Wash and peel your zucchinis, making sure to peel all green off.
- Cut your zucchinis lengthwise, use a spoon and scrape out seeds from the middle.
- Cut peeled zucchini into ½-inch cubes or, shred for crushed zucchini pineapple.
- Add to a large saucepan with the pineapple juice, lemon juice, and sugar (if using sugar).
- Bring this mixture to a boil, uncovered, then reduce to a simmer.
- Let zucchini pineapple simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
- Ladle hot zucchini and juice into hot clean jars.
- Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- Get rid of air bubbles by running a butter knife through the jar.
- Adjust headspace to about a half inch, and leave “pineapple chunks” covered with the juice.
- Wipe jar rims clean with a clean washcloth or paper towel (they get sticky from the juice.)
- Add your hot lid, and screw the cap to “finger tight”.
- Place jars in a water bath or steam canner.
- Bring the water bath canner to a boil, then set a timer.
- Process jars for 15 minutes for pints or half pint jars. Increase time as needed for your altitude…. I water-bath mine for 20 minutes because we are at 2-3K feet.
Processing Time Per Altitude
Processing time for a half pint and pint jar is the same when making zucchini pineapple.
0 -1000 feet is 15 minutes of processing.
1001 – 6000 feet is 20 minutes of processing time.
Over 6000 feet is 25 minutes of processing time.
Tips for making Zucchini Pineapple Canning Recipe
After making pineapple zucchini, I definitely recommend:
I recommend peeling your zucchini till all the green is off. The green gives the final product a green hue and does not look like a pineapple.
I highly recommend scooping out the seeds! The seeds give the zucchini away in the finished product, and without them, it looks much more like pineapple and is more appetizing!
Do not be alarmed when you have extra juice left in your pot after filling your jars! The zucchini lets off it’s own juices when it’s simmered, and you will have leftover juice in your pot. You can mix this with water and let the lids enjoy it over ice!
I cut my sugar in half to 1 1/2 cups for this recipe. I have a love-hate relationship with sugar and don’t want unnecessary in my family’s food. You can omit it entirely, but I think it needs at least half to taste good.
Can You Make Sugar-Free Zucchini Pineapple Canning Recipe?
Yes, you can make sugar-free pineapple zucchini! That is you can make NO SUGAR ADDED zucchini pineapple… Because there are natural sugars in the pineapple juice that you can’t eliminate. However, eliminating 3 cups of sugar is an option!
Sugar is not in this recipe as a preserving agent, it is only for taste,,, NOT for safety, so it can safely be omitted or reduced. See newspaper clipping below
Cost Savings of Zucchini Pineapple Canning Recipe
If you already have the pint or half pint jars and lids, you will save money using zucchini pineapple instead of buying it from the store!
A store-bought pint-sized can of pineapple chunks or crushed pineapple costs about $1.50 for the Del Monte brand 20-ounce can at the local Walmart today (7/27/22). The Dole brand is $2.22.
Zucchini Pineapple Canning Recipe Costs Include:
4 quarts of Zucchini – Free when you grow it! (Growing zucchini is one of the easiest veggies you’ll ever try BTW!)
The jar (a case of 12-pint jars at Walmart today runs just shy of $15, so they are $1.25 a piece.)
Pineapple Juice $3.72 per can. You’ll need 1 can for this recipe. That breaks down to $0.46 per pint jar.
1 1/2 cup of Lemon Juice. Lemon juice concentrate at Walmart today runs $2.62 for a 32-ounce bottle. This breaks down to about $0.87 for the entire recipe and $0.11 centers per jar.
3 cups of sugar ($1.58 at Walmart for a 4-pound bag, and you’re only using 3 cups max in this recipe) but you can omit this too.
Hence, Your total cost per jar today comes to about $1.82 per pint size jar. However, if you already have the jars you will only spend about $0.57 cents per jar!
Hence, you are not really saving money, unless you already have the jars, or if you would only buy the more expensive brand of pineapple at the store.
You May Also Enjoy These Canning Recipes
Cowboy Candy, Candied Jalapenos Canning Recipe
Applesauce Canning Recipe without sugar!
Zucchini Pineapple Canning Recipe (Mock Pineapple)
Thank You so much for stopping by the farmhouse! If you like this recipe, I’d love a 5 star review, and tag me on Instagram with your yummy creations @Farmhouse_Harvest!
Preserving Zucchini
So, the idea is pretty straightforward. You chop up some fresh zucchini and pair it with sweet and juicy pineapple chunks. The combination might sound a bit unusual, but trust me, the flavors actually work really well together!
The best part is that it’s super easy to make. You just need to follow some simple canning steps. You know, sterilize the jars, prepare a light syrup or juice (not too much sugar), and then pack the zucchini and pineapple mixture into the jars. After that, it’s all about the water bath canning to lock in the goodness and keep it safe for the long haul.
Now, why do I think it’s such a great idea? Well, for starters, it’s an excellent way to safely preserve surplus zucchini. You know how zucchini seems to grow like crazy in the garden, and sometimes you just don’t know what to do with all of it. Canning is the answer!
So, imagine having this delightful canned pineapple zucchini ready to go whenever you want to add a burst of flavor to your meals. Whether you incorporate it into savory dishes, use it as a topping, or even enjoy it straight from the jar, it’s such a versatile and wholesome treat.
Printable Zucchini Pineapple Canning Recipe Card
If you try this recipe and love it, I’d love if you give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouse_harvest with your delicious creation!
Zucchini Pineapple Canning Recipe – USDA Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 quarts of peeled and seeded zucchini
- 1 & 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 46 oz can of pineapple juice
- 3 cups sugar this is not a necessary ingredient for safety and may be omitted or reduced!
Instructions
- Wash and peel your zucchinis, making sure to peel all green off.
- Cut your zucchinis lengthwise, use a spoon and scrape out seeds from the middle.
- Cut peeled zucchini into ½-inch cubes or, shred for crushed zucchini pineapple.
- Add to a large saucepan with the pineapple juice, lemon juice, and sugar (if using sugar).
- Bring this mixture to a boil, uncovered, then reduce to a simmer.
- Simmer uncovered zucchini in pineapple juice for 20 minutes.
- Ladle hot zucchini and juice into hot clean jars.
- Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- Get rid of air bubbles by running a butter knife through the jar.
- Adjust headspace to about a half inch, and leave "pineapple chunks" covered with the juice.
- Wipe jar rims clean with a clean washcloth or paper towel (they get sticky from the juice.)
- Add your hot lid, and screw the cap to "finger tight".
- Place jars in a water bath or steam canner.
- Bring the water bath canner to a boil, then set a timer.
- Process jars for 15 minutes for pints or half pint jars. Increase time as needed for your altitude…. I water-bath mine for 20 minutes because we are at 2-3K feet.
Notes
Nutrition
Sources:
National Center for Home Food Preservation – USDA Applesauce Recipe
About Juliea
Juliea Huffaker is the creator of Farmhouse Harvest, and dedicated to teaching from-scratch cooking, sourdough baking, gardening, and food preservation. With over 25 years of hands-on experience she has preserved hundreds of jars of produce, mastered the art of meats and sourdough baking, and nurtured a thriving organic garden. Her recipes and articles have been featured across the web. And she’s passionate about inspiring others to embrace a simpler, self-sufficient life style.
4 comments
Kitchen Dweller
I used summer squash instead of zucchini and am amazed at the taste & appearance. I made “pineapple tidbits”; my husband said it looks just like pineapple. I can’t wait for more overgrown summer squash to make “crushed pineapple”.
Brydie
Would you be able to freeze the mixture instead of canning it? I.e just do steps 1-6
Thanks!
Juliea Huffaker
Hi Brydie… You could freeze it after cooking it in the pineapple juice… But canning is adding to the cooking time of the recipe, so I would add that to the cooking time, then cool, then freeze 😉
juliea
Hi jennifer! Thanks for visiting my website! I’m not sure… the pineapple juice has the acidity needed to safely can zucchini in a water bath canner…. I was just thinking about this today, wondering what other kinds of juices would work! Zucchini is one of the things that takes on the flavor of what ever you cook it with! But for safe canning, it would have to be tested to make sure it was acidic enough. I did buy the acidity test strips off amazon, but haven’t played with them yet.