Great, Great Granny Foster’s Marrow Pickle Recipe – Courgettes too!

This can be made with actual Marrows, or courgettes that have got a little too big for their boots!  The great thing about Pickles and Chutneys is that you can spice them up to your taste.  We tend to go not too hot in this household for my hubby and kids, but you can add chilli to your hearts content if you wish!   My great, great Granny Foster was a farmers wife, so this wouldn’t be measured to exact amounts, it would be rustic, and the sugar etc would be whatever she had in her cupboards.

2 1/4 lb Marrow/courgette

3/4 lb apple (skinned, cored and sliced thinly- you want them to pulp down when heated for a short while)

3/4 lb onion

1 1/2 pt vinegar

10 oz sugar (brown or granulated- your choice)

3 tsp cornflour mixed in a bit of vinegar

1 1/2 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the jam jars as I explained for the Blackcurrant and Courgette Jam.  This makes about 6 jars of Pickle.

Chop up the marrow into little cubes, about half a cm square, mix up with about 1 oz salt and leave to stand for at least 3 hours so that the excess water can run out.  Rinse thoroughly!

Mix all the ingredients apart from the sugar and cornflour together and simmer for about 5 mins until the apple have softened up.

Then add the sugar and cornflour and simmer for about 20 minutes or until when you pull a wooden spoon through the top of the mix and make a little furrow it doesn’t fill immediately with liquid.

Pour into your jars, and keep for a while as it improves the taste.  But if you can’t wait, it tastes scrummy from the start!