Carol Frazer got this recipe from her aunt, who must have been British or Canadian, "marrow" being the generic British word for summer squash. Carol calls the recipe "weird." I don't think so. Our ancestors pickled anything that didn't promptly move out of their way, and some of those recipes were weird. In my Old Virginia cookbook I have recipes for pickled martinas, whatever they are, and pickled walnuts, cabbage, green tomatoes, and cantaloupe. I have recipes for pickled blackberries, cherries, and mushrooms. I have recipes for strawberry-rhubarb jam and tomato jam.

     Marrow and Ginger Jam sounds delicious to me -- a good deal like watermelon rind pickle, in fact. (Though watermelon rind pickle sounds weird until you try some.) More to the point, this jam uses up four pounds of peeled and seeded zucchini, which is enough to challenge the most enthusiastic zucchini plant, or even several plants. It would be especially good for the monstrous, baseball-bat size of zucchini that sneaks up on you when you aren't looking. Or which maybe someone left on your doorstep or on the hood of your automobile in the middle of the night.

     So here, to your enthusiastic applause for an enthusiastic vegetable, is the answer to your problem.

Ingredients and Method:

     Put the squash in the top part of a double boiler. Half fill the bottom part with water and bring it to a boil over moderate heat. Put the top part in place, cover, and steam the cubes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they are just tender. Remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the squash to a large mixing bowl and add the lemon juice. Put the lemon peel, cloves and bruised ginger in a small cheesecloth bag and add it to the bowl. Add the sugar and mix it in thoroughly with a large spoon. Cover the bowl and leave the mixture for 24 hours. Transfer the contents of the bowl into a preserving pan or large saucepan. Put the pan over low heat and stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Then stir in the crystalized ginger. Increase the heat and boil the jam until the squash is transparent, the syrup thick, and setting point is reached. Remove the pan from the heat. With a slotted spoon, lift out and discard the cheesecloth bag. Ladle the jam into warm jars, cover and label, and store in a cool place. Yield will be approximately 18 cups jam.

     Eighteen cups is a lot of jam -- enough so that, if you know who landed that humongous zucchini on you, you can now land some jam on them. The Bible describes that sort of thing as "heaping coals of fire on their head," which is okay to do, as you have the scriptural authority.

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