Actually, the best way to deal wit this would be to either use a Ball prepackaged Bread & Butter pickle mix, or one of the same mixes offered by Mrs. Wages. Zucchini isn't going to end up as crisp as cucumbers though, as they are less dense compared to a much more watery cucumber. These mixes have the necessary seasonings and salt, and you add your own sugar. Essentually the bread & butter pickles are usually slices, and are seasoned with mustard seeds, celery seeds, tumeric (for the yellow color), salt, sugar (or your own sweetener preference), vinegar, and water. Very basic... I like to add a few pieces of dried sweet red pepper flakes to the jars prior to filling with the cuke slices (or in your case the zuke slices). In mine, they are sliced with a crinkle cutter which gives them a nice ripple texture. In the last hour, I just made 8 quarts of the same thing, but instead of the B&B mix, I used a Kosher dill mix, and added a few whole peppercorns to each quart, as well as a couple of cloves of garlic cut up, and a few pieces of dried sweet red pepper pieces (for color), along with a few green and brown dill seed head pieces. In your case, a few mustard seeds and celery seeds added to each jar. The end result is a decent B&B you can enjoy. If you plan to make these using an alternative to regular sugar, the use of Splenda makes them very tasty and I find that I don't need the several pounds of sugar needed, as just a cup of Splenda will sweeten these just as much (has something to do with the vinegar reacting with the Splenda that makes it stronger sweetening power). Your taste goversn the sweetness, and if you do use Splenda, start out with about half a cup of the 'puffed up' type, and you will soon realize that it offers you quite a lot of sweetening power without getting cloyingly sweet. Enjoy.. With this method, there is no presalting, you just cold pack the jars and pour in the boiling brine, cap, and process, quarts for 10 minutes, pints for 5 minutes, this is, according to the "quick process" mentioned on the Mrs. Wages pickle packages.

Zucchini bread will probably fall apart and get mushy in bread pudding. It'll be a lot better if you put something airy and glutinous with it. Best bet would be a braided challah because of the long strands and airy crumb. Don't cut the challah too small--let it give some structure and something for the zucchini bread to cling to. And, whatever you do, don't stir it a lot or you'll have zucchini bread soup. You can soak the challah in the custard, but your best bet, for your star ingredient, would be to fill up your pan with the breads, as densely as you can, so the zucchini bread doesn't dissolve, pour on the custard/flavoring mix, and add as much bread as you can. You can press at this point. Just don't squash it too hard. A plastic plate to keep the bread down would be better than a real weight. For the custard, you're right to cut the sugar. If you want it to be a sweet dessert maybe add a little, but it shouldn't require it to be good, especially if you're planning a hard sauce. You could also add some dried fruit to add sweetness, instead. Soak it in the custard for an hour before you mix with the bread. Or you could macerate the dried fruit in liqueur and cook off the alcohol. I haven't tried this, but it occurs to me that an alternative to a traditional bread pudding that might work is to slice the zucchini bread maybe half the height of the pan, dry the slices, then line the pan in two layers of slices and pour the custard over. Let the custard settle and soak in and add more to fill the pan, and maybe another round if it needs it. That would be a lot less stirring and squishing, and the large pieces would have more integrity. More like making a French toast pie. If you want to add fruit, nuts, etc., do it between the layers of bread. Good luck!

This is my go to zuke bread recipe. It never fails. I copied it out of a cookbook in 1988 after planting 9 zuke plants in my first garden. I modified it slightly to my taste, but the basic recipe never lets me down. It works well baked in small coffee cans too. Citrusy Zucchini Bread 3 eggs 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 tsp lemon or orange extract 1 tsp lemon or orange zest 1/2 tsp vanilla 2 cups grated or shredded zucchini, drained a bit if very wet 2 1/2 cups un-sifted flour 1/2 cup wheat germ (optional, but better with it) 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp ginger 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (or nuts of your choice, or none at all) Beat together eggs, oil and sugar; beat in extracts, zest and zucchini. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl; stir into wet ingredients and add nuts. Turn into two small, buttered loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool in pans until loaves can be removed easily, then finish cooling on wire rack. These loaves freeze well.

Here's another recipe using zucchini Ilene posted several years ago. This is really good. _______________________ Spiced Chocolate Zucchini Cake 2 1/2 cups unsifted all purpose flour 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup butter or margarine softened 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 3 eggs 2 cups grated unpelled zucchini (about 1/2 pound) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 cup milk 1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans;set aside. 2.Mix flour cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl using electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until light and fluffy. Add eggs;mix well. 3 stir in zucchini and vanilla extract; mix well. Alternately all dry ingredients with milk, begining and ending with flour using one third of the milk at a time. Beat until well blended after each addition. 4. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake until a cake taster inserted into the center comes out clean. About 30 min. let stand 5 min. Turn onto wire racks to cool; Fill and fost top with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Makes 8 to 10 servings. Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting 1 package (3 oz.) cream cheese softened 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 4 cups powder sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoon milk are water In a med. bowl beat the cream cheese butter and cinnamon until well blended. Add the powder sugar vanilla extract and the milk and beat until creamy then spread on cake. I sometimes put it in a one single cake pan and it works good that way too.