Some varieties of Italian winter squash are sizable, and when friends gave us one close to a yard long we started off with squash soup. One can only eat so much squash soup, however. Pouring through cookbooks turned up several other ideas, including squash jam, which here gains from the addition of apples and pears. Quite good, in fact, and perfect over toast or with cheese. To make several jars:
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:
- 1 1/8 pounds (500 g) peeled squash, cubed
- A little more than a half pound (250 g) flavorful apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
- A little more than a half pound (250 g) flavorful pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
- The juice of a lemon
- 1 1/8 pounds (2 1/4 cups, or 500 g) sugar
- Optional: 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger root, minced
- Clean, sterile jam jars sufficient to contain the volume of fruit
Preparation:
Dust the bottom of a bowl with some of the sugar, and then add the fruit and squash, sprinkling sugar as you go. When all is in the bowl sprinkle the lemon juice and ginger (if you're using it; see note) over everything, cover, and let rest for 24 hours, during which time the sugar will draw quite a bit of moisture from the fruit.
Transfer everything to a pot, and cook, stirring often, over a gentle flame for about 2 hours. At this point the volume of the mixture will be reduced, though the pieces of fruit will likely still be whole. Puree them with an immersion blender, spoon the jam into your jars, seal them, and sterilize them.
That's it!
Note: The Italian recipe didn't call for ginger. However, I feared the jam would simply be sweet without it, and added a little. It adds a nice touch; one could also add a little cinnamon if one wanted.
Transfer everything to a pot, and cook, stirring often, over a gentle flame for about 2 hours. At this point the volume of the mixture will be reduced, though the pieces of fruit will likely still be whole. Puree them with an immersion blender, spoon the jam into your jars, seal them, and sterilize them.
That's it!
Note: The Italian recipe didn't call for ginger. However, I feared the jam would simply be sweet without it, and added a little. It adds a nice touch; one could also add a little cinnamon if one wanted.
