Courgette Jam

It would seem that my mission to use up an entire garden’s worth of courgettes isn’t over just yet (I still have around 8 sat on my worktop right now & we’re having courgette for tea). I would say lesson learned, don’t grow so many damn courgettes next year, but truth be told I’ve enjoyed the challenge!

The best part about exploring new ideas & ways to use up my little round courgettes is actually that I do have so many to play with. That way, if something doesn’t necessarily work out, then it’s not a loss… I can try again, tweak & fine tune the recipe until it’s just right. It’s more of an opportunity than a burden.

If there’s one thing I really enjoy doing in the kitchen, it’s experimenting! Give me a glut of anything & I’ll try my best to turn into something delicious that I can share. Often though, I find myself falling back on preserving.

So long as I have sugar in the cupboard & empty jars to fill, the possibilities are endless when it comes to using up some fruits & vegetables. Pickles, chutney, jams & jellies are all the easiest, cheapest way to have fun with a glut of absolutely anything (they’re also easier to give away than bakes!).

I figured, why not pop my courgettes into the preserving pan & see what happens. Seeing as courgettes are mild in taste & are also excellent at taking on other flavours, I thought I would try them in a jam. Rather than drown out my courgettes though & make them completely obsolete in my jam, I wanted to pair them with other fresh, lifting flavours. For this, I opted for two classics: lemon & ginger.  On their own, each is a powerful flavour when used alone or in excess, but here I’ve used them sparingly to add just a subtle, sweet hint of their zesty, spicy characteristics.

The resulting courgette jam is golden, chunky & subtle. It’s sweet & has a gentle flavour all of it’s own that unless you knew what it was made from, you can’t quite put your finger on. This is a very soft set jam, owing to the lack of pectin in my courgettes but if you’d prefer more of a set then by all means add in a little pectin when cooking. This is one that you can quite easily dollop onto thick cut toast in the morning or pair it with a good strong cheese for tea (trust me on this). So whether you’ve got a glut of courgettes or you’re simple intrigued.. this is jam that won’t disappoint the curious.