Zucchini Marmalade

When the fabulous dude told me that his mom said she'd made a marmalade with zucchini, I was skeptical to say the least. But when I spoke to her and she told me how it turned out I decided to give it a shot because I still have zuc's coming out my ears and am starting to get sick of them. At first, I wasn't overly keen on the recipe because of the amount of sugar but then I decided to just give it a shot anyway. Let me tell you, this is super tasty...even for someone who doesn't love jam/jelly/marmalade. It's so full of sugar, but it will be a nice treat every once in a while.

Zucchini Marmalade - from MIL
8 cups peeled, seeded and shredded zucchini
12 cups sugar
4 seedless navel oranges
3 lemons
2 ounces crystallized ginger (about a half 100 g package)

1. Peel and seed zucchini. Shred in food processor. You will see I also had some yellow summer squash in there. I didn't have quite enough zucchini. After shredding it, I decided to chop it a little more as well to reduce the chance that the marmalade would be stringy. This was a good choice, in my opinion.


2. Place shredded zucchini in a large bowl. Cover with sugar and stir. Cover and place in fridge overnight.

3. The next morning, wash oranges and lemons, remove any stickers. Cut lemons in wedges in order to pluck out the seeds. Chop oranges and lemons (with rind on) in the food processor until very fine.

4. Chop ginger in food processor.

5. Add sugared zucchini, oranges, lemons and ginger to a large pot. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Boil, stirring occasionally for approximately an hour until thick**.

6. Process in cans. Place in water bath for 5 minutes. Click here to read a more detailed description of my canning process.

Makes 6 pints (I did 12 1/2 pints).

**To test for thickness, place a small dessert bowl in the freezer. Once cold, drop a small amount of marmalade on the plate. As it cools, if it thickness to the desired consistency it is ready. If not, continue to boil.