(no subject)

[dakegra]

Today we made marrow & ginger jam.

Mainly because we were given a HUGE marrow from our allotment neighbours, which has lived in our fridge for a week taking up an entire shelf. I may well have posted a photo previously. If not, I've got a photo somewhere... It was 22" long and weighed the same as a small child.

Speaking of which, our friends M & N's daughter L adores courgettes, so we picked the last of our crop - beautiful small yellow courgettes, and gave them to her. She was delighted. I then said, oh, I think there's one more in the fridge, go and get it...

The look on her face was priceless.

Marrow & ginger jam, I am glad to report, is utterly fabulous, and entirely better than one would expect it to be.

Comments

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Marrow and ginger jam is, indeed, fabulous. It is also a very good way to use up over-large courgettes with tough skins.

[genevra.livejournal.com]

I had to go to wikipedia to figure out what manner of foodstuffs you were speaking of. Ah... zucchini and squash! Oh, but you made JAM with the squash? Seriously? Never heard of such a thing, and I'm quite dubious of the claims of fabulosity...

[dakegra.livejournal.com]

I'd say that this marrow was more of a giant zucchini than a squash, though they do share some characteristics.

The marrow flavour is quite subtle in with the ginger, and is mainly used to bulk out the jam, but it really is very tasty, honestly!

[genevra.livejournal.com]

I'll just have to take your word for it! :)

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

And mine. I have been making it for years and it is a truly exquisite jam. My Other Half was sceptical about it until he tried it, and now he insists I make several pots every summer.

[genevra.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... If you can supply a recipe, I may try it someday...

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

I'll post it on my LJ

[dakegra.livejournal.com]

check out what helflaed says, but we did it like this:

1 kilo of marrow (peeled and de-seeded so you end up with a kilo left)
1 kilo of jam sugar (needs to be jam sugar as it has pectin in to help it set)
juice of two large lemons
one largeish piece of ginger, peeled and chopped (about the size of a thumb, ish)

Stick the marrow, lemon juice and ginger in a food processor and whiz up until it's like a puree

Put the puree in a large pan and add the sugar. Heat gently until all the sugar is melted - check on the back of a clean spoon and you'll be able to see if the sugar crystals have gone. Make sure you don't heat it too vigorously until the sugar is all melted into the mix.

Heat to 85 degrees C, which should sterilise the mix, stirring occasionally.

Heat up to about 105 degrees C for about 20-30 mins. Test on a plate which you've had in the freezer - drop a bit of the mix on the plate and see if it starts to set.

BE CAREFUL! hot sugar is, erm, hot. And sticky. And VERY painful if you get it on the skin.

Wash and dry some jars. Pop them in the oven at about 150C to sterilise.

Pour the jam into the jars, put a lid on *but don't tighten it* and leave to cool.

Tighten lid.

Makes about 3 jars.