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Lemon, Ginger & Cardamom Jam Tarts

Published on December 22, 2013 β€’ Last updated July 18, 2014 by Elizabeth
jam-tarts

At the end of this summer I was presented with the opportunity to guest review a jam recipe book, which I accepted with delight. I have very fond memories of my mother’s home made jams, with the neat little rows of labelled Mason jars containing delicious treasures such as wild strawberry, blackberry and blueberry jams, wild Indian plum jelly and (my least favourite) wild mint jelly. All of these jams and jellies were made from foraged fruit which grew wild near our home in rural Cape Breton, on the east coast of Canada.

While waiting for the book to arrive I bought some fancy Kilner canning jars from a local retailer (Β£2-50 a pop!!) and waited patiently for my book to arrive.

It eventually did, and although the book was filled with quite a variety of recipes it would have cost a fortune to make the jams because I would have needed to buy all the fruit from the supermarket, and supermarket fruit isn’t exactly inexpensive. I have an aversion to ruining all that perfectly good fruit with the amount of sugar called for in jam recipes too. It just seems wrong.

marrow-jamHowever! I am not adverse to improving a marrow with copious quantities of sugar! I am not a fan of the bland flavourless marrow, so I never used to buy them, but when I started receiving delivery of a fortnightly organic vegetable box marrows started appearing regularly in my house. I have to confess my heart sunk a little each time one arrived, but I did welcome the challenge. Surely something nice could be made out of a marrow? I had to investigate!

The jam book had a recipe for marrow and ginger jam, which I scaled down to use a single marrow (people buy more than one!?) and adapted by adding a little green cardamom seed for flavour.

I was so chuffed with myself as this was the first time I’d ever made jam, and it tasted fantastic (I taste tested the cooled jam left in the preserving pan)! The following day it appeared that the jam had set, so I labelled it up and tucked it away in the pantry for awhile so the flavours could develop, quite pleased with my accomplishment.

Imagine how disappointed I was when, two months later, I took the jars off the shelf to find that the jam had crystallized! Apparently this is due to the fact the sugar had not dissolved completely before the mixture was brought to the boil. A beginner’s error. Lesson learnt!

jam-tarts2

Not to be defeated I defrosted some sweet shortcrust pastry leftovers and made these adorable little jam tarts with the failed jam.

The heat from baking the tarts finished dissolving the sugar so you couldn’t tell that they were made from an otherwise ruined jam. They’d just cooled and been decorated with icing sugar when my partner returned from work with a work colleague and they were greedily scoffed by adults and children alike with a hot drink on a cold Winter’s day. No one guessed there was a marrow in there!

As these jam tarts contain some lovely warming spice I am sharing them with Cooking with Herbs by Karen over at Lavender and Lovage. This month’s theme is Christmas Spice.

Happy Holidays!
Lemon, Ginger & Cardamom Jam Tarts
by Elizabeth
A jam tart with a bit of lemon and spice!
Ingredients
For the Jam
    • 850 grams marrow, peeled, seeded and cut into 5 mm dice
    • 875 grams granulated sugar, divided
    • 30 grams fresh ginger root
    • 1 lemon, zest and juice
    • 5 green cardamoms, seeds only
    • 40 grams stem ginger, finely chopped
For the Tarts
  • 1 quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (home made or shop bought)
  • milk, to brush pastry
  • icing sugar, to decorate
Instructions
For the Jam
1. Place marrow in a large bowl and sprinkle with 225 grams of the sugar. Cover and leave overnight.
2. Bruise the root ginger with a rolling pin and tie it up in a square of muslin with the lemon zest.
3. Place marrow along with the juices that have been extracted overnight, the lemon juice and the square of muslin in a large preserving pan.
4. Simmer gently for 20-30 minutes until the marrow is very soft.
5. Add the remaining sugar and gently heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring occasionally.
6. Bring to the boil and boil gently until the setting point is reached and the marrow looks transparent.
7. Stir in the chopped stem ginger and allow to cool a few minutes before potting in sterilized jars.

For the Tarts
1. Roll out sweet shortcrust pastry to 5 mm thickness and cut out 2.5 inch circles and 1.5 inch stars.
2. Press pastry circles into lightly greased muffin tin holes.
3. Spoon 1 tbsp jam into the tart and top with a small star.
4. Brush pastry with a little milk and bake at 180 C for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
5. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar.
Details

Prep time (for the tarts): 15 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 45 mins Yield: Makes 24 tarts

Cooking with Herbs
Category: Pastry, Recipe

About Elizabeth

Solivagant. Foodie. Calls Shetland home.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. sandra hasan

    September 3, 2017 at 4:40 pm

    You dont say how to prepare the marrow

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      September 4, 2017 at 6:54 am

      Hi Sandra, it’s in the recipe ingredients list – the marrow needs to be peeled, seeded and cut into 5 mm dice before continuing on with the recipe. Good luck! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  2. Ana De- Jesus

    January 29, 2016 at 11:41 pm

    Is there a substitute you would use for marrow as I am a vegetarian? I love the sound of the lemon/ginger//cardamom fusion!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      January 30, 2016 at 8:54 am

      Marrow is a vegetable – they are giant overgrown courgettes. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  3. Heather Haigh

    April 5, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    That combination of flavours sounds divine. I have to make some.

    Reply
  4. Maya Russell

    March 11, 2015 at 11:48 am

    Yum, cardamom is a favourite flavour of mine.

    Reply
  5. Debbie Skerten

    November 22, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    Lovely recipe. Extremely festive x

    Reply
  6. bev

    September 12, 2014 at 9:55 am

    Mouthwatering!

    Reply
  7. Laura Denman

    December 30, 2013 at 6:04 pm

    I very rarely see marrows around where I live but when marrow season comes round again, I’ll be thinking of this very intriguing recipe if I do spy one! All the best for the new year =)

    Reply
  8. Karen S Booth

    December 30, 2013 at 11:39 am

    I LOVE these tarts and I also love the fact you made them with home-made jam too! Happy New Year! Karen xxxx

    Reply
  9. londonbusybody.com

    December 25, 2013 at 7:48 am

    Oh, these sound lovely and so cute. Would love to give this a go!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth S

      December 28, 2013 at 12:28 pm

      I hope you do! Wishing you all the best for 2014 πŸ™‚

      Reply
  10. belleau kitchen

    December 23, 2013 at 9:17 am

    so pretty… such a nice and lighter alternative to the mince pie and a great way to use up those little pastry bit… Happy Christmas to you !! x

    Reply
    • Elizabeth S

      December 28, 2013 at 12:25 pm

      We’re not particularly big fans of mince pies in our house. Nothing beats a good jam tart. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  11. Jean

    December 23, 2013 at 8:31 am

    I love jam tarts of any kind.
    I have some almost solid white currant jam in the fridge that might do the job and I love the idea of putting little stars lids on them, they look gorgeous.
    Thanks for the inspiration and all your inspirational posts this year. I hope you have a lovely Christmas!

    Reply
    • Elizabeth S

      December 28, 2013 at 12:23 pm

      Sounds like a good idea, Jean, did you make them? I think the stars help make a plain looking treat into something special, imho. Thank you for your wonderful comments and support throughout the year, Jean and all the best for 2014! xx

      Reply
  12. Shweet Spicess

    December 23, 2013 at 12:41 am

    Yummy Tarts πŸ™‚

    Reply
    • Elizabeth S

      December 28, 2013 at 12:22 pm

      They certainly were! πŸ˜€

      Reply
  13. Phil in the Kitchen

    December 22, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    Many thanks for the reminder. I’ve get several jars of marrow and ginger jam at the back of a cupboard that were made following an out of control, neglected courgette plant incident. Perfect for a winter tart or two. Have a very fine Christmas.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth S

      December 28, 2013 at 12:21 pm

      Excellent! πŸ™‚ I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Phil, and all the best for 2014 πŸ™‚

      Reply
  14. Rachel Cotterill

    December 22, 2013 at 7:40 pm

    I tried to make some marrow & ginger jam this year, but I got cocky and put on some strawberry jam at the same time… one of them was doomed to burn. I won’t be making that mistake again! But I will certainly be trying again, and I love the idea of adding the lemon and cardamom as well as ginger.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth S

      December 22, 2013 at 8:02 pm

      Oops! πŸ™‚

      Reply

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