Spiced courgette (zucchini) marmalade
The courgette tsunami rages on and the zucchini avalanche is still rolling downhill. Preserving your vegetables and transforming them to marmalade can deal with a lot of produce relatively quickly. This recipe was inspired by my Twitter mate, Caroline Turnbull-Hall – and also the lovely people at Abel & Cole. Thank you very much.
This recipe will either look very easy or make you very nervous. If you’ve made jam or marmalade before and you have the basic equipment and the steady nerves to stir boiling sugar then you’re straight in. If you’ve never made jam or marmalade – not sure I would start here. It’s a fairly straightforward recipe and mine ‘set’ well but it’s still boiling sugar and canning jars. If you’re a newby to jam and marmalade but want to go on – there are some very good videos on youtube. Here’s a good one on making a small batch of strawberry jam because I couldn’t find one on courgette marmalade. Also, here’s a link to a video with a good easy way to sterilise your jars .
If you decide not to sterilise the jars – you can keep the jars in the fridge and eat it sooner.
The recipe does not require jam sugar or pectin. However, there are three pieces of kit I would encourage you to consider: 1) a candy thermometer 2) Kilner jars with rims and lids and 3) a jam jar funnel. It ends up IN the jars not NEAR the jars or ON the jars. There are other ways to test your marmalade for doneness but I’m a believer in engineering so I go with the thermometer. A jam jar funnel is a big help when transferring the hot marmalade to the jars. It ends up IN the jars not NEAR the jars or ON the jars.
Recipe
Ingredients
- One kilo of courgette (zucchini) (unpeeled)
- One kilo caster sugar
- A thumb sized piece of fresh ginger
- Four or five cardamom pods.
- Four lemons for both zest and juice. (a)
(a) The Davinator suggested that this marmalade would benefit from a mix of limes and lemons. He’s a jam gourmet so it’s worth considering.
Method
- Find a large deep heavy bottomed pot for making your marmalade. I always use my le Creuset, it’s the best for cooking sugar because it disperses the heat so well.
- Coarse grate the courgette leaving the skin on. A number of recipes suggest removing the skin or dicing the courgette – I think you would lose the ‘shred’ effect of marmalade and also the lovely moss green colour.
- Peel the ginger and chop very fine. It’s going to stay in the marmalade so you don’t want to be biting down on a big chunk.
- Grate the zest off the lemons, then squeeze the juice, getting rid of any seeds.
- Combine the courgette, ginger, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in your cooking pot. Give it a stir and let the sugar start to draw water out of the courgettes.
- When it’s well mixed and quite wet, place it over a low heat. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Turn the heat up to medium high. Put the cardamom pods in a muslin bag, like a bouquet garni and add to the mixture.
- Let the marmalade bubble away – it will be cooking for up to 30 minutes or more. Keep an eye on it, stir it frequently and skim the foam off the top when there seems to be a great deal.
- Wash and sterilise your jars, using your favourite method. If you prep six 250 ml jars, that should be plenty. If you’re not using a jam funnel, then sterilise a heat proof jug with your jars. Transfer the marmalade to the jug and from there to the jars.
- You’re getting close when the boiling sound changes from a rapid bubble to more of a hum. Get your jam thermometer out and start testing. The mixture should reach 105C (225F) and should part when you drag the spoon through it. Less dramatic than Moses parting the Red Sea, but you should be able to briefly see the bottom and there’s a sort of wake line through the bubbling mixture. Other methods are available – follow this link ‘marmalade setting‘.
- Your marmalade is at the setting point. Take it off the heat, fill the jars, cover and screw the lids down. Put labels on the jars once they’ve cooled. Don’t forget to fish out the cardamom pods. Label and store in a cool, dark place. Should last a year. Not that marmalade would ever last a year in this house.
Time to make marmalade!
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