Unbought Delicacies

I made these today, using up some donated marrows and overgrown courgettes - both are well worth making, and lovely with freshly made scones.

Marrow & ginger jam

3lbs marrow/courgettes, peeled and diced
juice and zest of 2 lemons
1/2 oz ground ginger, or more to taste
3 lbs sugar

Put marrow in a large pan with a little water and cook until very soft; drain well. Return to pan with the rest of the ingredients, heat slowly to thoroughly dissolve the sugar, stir well, then bring to a rapid boil and boil to setting point. Pot and cover as usual into clean, hot jars.

Marrow & ginger curd

4lbs marrow, peeled and diced; cook this over a gentle heat until a puree. Weigh puree, and for every 1lb of puree, add 1lb of sugar, 8 oz butter, 5 eggs and juice and zest of 2 lemons, 1 tsp ground ginger.

Stir everything together in a heat proof bowl and cook gently over a pan of simmering water until thickened; don't let the mixture boil. When adding the beaten eggs, add through a sieve. Pot and seal in hot jars as usual. Keep in fridge.

Below is part of tomorrow's kitchen activity - the first of the windfalls from the Devonshire Quarrenden tree. They've been washed and had a first sorting; tomorrow I will set the best of them for eating, then decide what to make with the rest. I got stung by a wasp feasting on one of them, for my trouble...........