image source wikimedia commons

1.  The pumpkin is a squash of the genus Cucurbita, and can refer to one of many species, they all originated in North America.

It's about this time of year that the question of what to do with the last of the marrows raises it's gnarled green head over the edge of the vegetable bowl.
The marrow is unquestionably a beast, and sadly it's culinary uses are usually limited to being stuffed, but it can make the base of a most subtle and delicious jam. Its saving grace is that it doesn't have much flavour, and while this is usually its downfall, in this recipe it allows the ginger and lemon to shine through.

It's also a pretty jam.
The cooked marrow is translucent and jewel like chunks of it float in the jar, I've adapted this recipe to include a small amount of pumpkin, which adds a stronger orange colour to the effect.

Like a lot of people we always seem to get a glut of courgettes at this time of year, actually most of them are more worthy of being called marrows. We're also overflowing with cooking apples, and the tomatoes are looking like we're going have to pick them green before the dreaded blight makes it's annual visit.

All of this points towards using this excellent recipe based on the one Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall calls glutney on his river cottage blog. The beauty of Hugh's recipe is in it's adaptability, as long as you use 3kg of marrows / courgettes / pumpkins / tomatoes / apples the actual quantities are interchangeable.

If, like me, you've been wondering what to do with all that left over pumpkin, apart from make pie and soup, then this spicy winter chutney might be the answer. Our lantern was made early this year, in preparation for a weekend away, so the rest of the afternoon was spent putting the scrapings to good use.

I adapted the pumpkin chutney recipe on the lovely mytinyplot blog, increasing the amount of ginger and adding some apricots for extra fruitiness.