Courgette, Lime and Ginger Jam

Yes, I know courgette jam sounds a little odd, and to my Aussie readers, yes I do mean zucchini! The thing is, everyone that tried this was pleasantly surprised and I promised months ago that I would share the recipe.

Courgette, lime and ginger jam came about last summer, when I had quite a glut of courgettes growing in the garden. Determined not to waste any I had to get creative.

As with all jams, the general rule is that you match the 'fruit' with sugar, weight for weight. Therefore I would say harvest your courgette, peel and chop and then weigh it to determine how much sugar you need. For the purpose of this recipe, I'll pretend I had 1kg of courgettes.

Ingredients
1kg courgette, peeled and chopped into small cubes
1kg jam sugar
3 limes
100g fresh root ginger, finely grated

Method

• Place the courgette in a saucepan with the juice from half a lime and cook until the courgette starts to go translucent. (Don't overcook as it will turn to mush!)
• Drain off almost all of the liquid.
• Add the sugar, ginger and the rest of the lime juice. You may wish to add zest from the limes too.
• Heat gently, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved.
• Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to let it simmer, stirring occasionally.
• Test for a set (I use the cold plates from the freezer method) and once you have this, turn off the heat and pour the jam into sterilised jars.

That's it - you can then surprise your friends with some unexpectedly nice jam. I have a great aunt who is a big fan of my jam. She gets a kick out of never telling people what it is but asking them to guess - so far no one has come up with courgette!