Relishing The Marrow

I have been putting off trying marrow, for years now.  Well, I thought I have, as it turns out I've had them before unknowingly.  Although there are well suited cultivars, marrow is essentially an overgrown courgette/zucchini.  I had always known they were in the same family of veg, and suspected they were more closely related. All you need to do is just look at them to come to that conclusion.  It was confusing however, as I was seeing people refer to them as an English squash, or separate seed packets for marrow and courgette at the garden centre.

Here is a good resource of information about marrow.

http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/what-is-marrow.html

Just as courgette, growing marrow can lead to a bumper crop.  They are dead easy to grow!  Bringing them into the kitchen it is good to make dishes other than fried, sauteed, baked, stuffed.  It is a good thing that the veg is well suited to chutneys, preserves, and relish, Marrow is a good way to bring sought after moisture to cakes, and muffins.  It is nice that the said cakes have a dose of needed nutrition added to them.

Speaking of nutrition, marrow is lower in calories, high in fibre, and dense with vitamins.

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/marrow-vegetable-3357.html

I made a burger relish with my bought marrow.

Start by peeling a medium sized marrow.  They can grow quite large and become too watery and bitter if they are too large.  Save the larger marrow for size contests.

Cut in half long ways and scoop the seeds and looser centre pithe out.

Grind with a food processor into quite small pieces.  You will want close to 4 cups of finished grind.  Evenly blend in a teaspoon of salt.  Let the ground marrow sit for an hour.  Pour off the somewhat bitter liquid that forms.  Press it through a sieve, and let it set for another hour.  Repeat until the liquid is not so forthcoming. While the marrow drains, make a pickling liquid to set aside:

1 c. vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon additional cinnamon

Add a large onion that is processed into the same size pieces as the marrow.  Place this mixture in a large pan.  Pour in the pickling liquid.  Bring to a boil on high heat, cook this mixture for 5 minutes.  Turn it down to medium high and continue to reduce the liquid and the whole mixture comes together into a thickened relish.

Cool and load it into a jar.

Spoon onto a well grilled burger this summer.  Marrow are best in the late summer months, perfect timing for a summer BBQ!  I can imagine this relish is nice on a savaloy, as well.

Go on tuck in!

You can process in a hot water bath with the proper jars, or keep in the frig among your other stand by condiments.

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