Zucchini Jam with Lemon and Vanilla
Cubed squash cooked down with sugar until it turns translucent and tastes vaguely of pineapple.
- calories
- 290
- weight
- 8.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 33
- protein
- 1 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 60 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Day one only
- Basic
Ingredients
| Zucchini | 2 lb | peeled, seeded, cut into small cubes |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 2 cups | |
| Lemons | 2 | juice and zest |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | or half a split bean |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Cut the peeled zucchini into cubes about the size of a die. Uneven cubes cook unevenly and you get mush next to raw.
- Put the cubes in the pot with the sugar, lemon juice, zest, and salt. Stir and let it sit 20 minutes off the heat. The sugar pulls water out of the squash, and that water is the only liquid this recipe gets.
- Set it over a low flame. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and the pot has visible syrup in it before you turn the heat up.
- Simmer uncovered, stirring every few minutes so the bottom does not scorch. On a campfire, keep the pot at the edge of the coals, not over flame.
- After 35 to 45 minutes the cubes go from opaque white-green to translucent and the syrup coats a spoon. Stir in the vanilla and pull it off the heat.
- Eat warm over oats or straight from the pot. It thickens further as it cools.
Zucchini has almost no flavor of its own, which is the whole point. Cooked slowly in sugar and acid it takes on the lemon and vanilla and ends up tasting like canned pineapple. The texture does the same trick: the cubes go translucent and hold their shape instead of collapsing.
This is a preserving recipe stripped of the preserving. No jars, no sterilizing, no water bath. You are making one pot of jam to eat over a day or two, so it keeps in the cooler rather than on a shelf. The 20-minute rest before the burner is the step people skip and shouldn’t. Without it you will add water, and water is what stands between you and a set.
Packing
Cube the zucchini at home and carry it in a zip bag in the cooler. Premeasure the sugar and salt into a second bag. Lemons ride whole, vanilla in a small dropper bottle.
Variations
- A cinnamon stick or two cloves added at the simmer makes it read as autumn instead of tropical.
- Cut the sugar to 1 1/2 cups if you plan to eat it the same day. Below that it will not set at all.
- Spoon it over pancakes or fry bread at breakfast.
https://savoriurbane.com/dulceata-de-dovlecei-cu-lamaie-si-vanilie