Such stories - even culinary ones - must always start from afar. After all, the plot - it remained in the past, the denouement - has come now. And, it would be better not to come, because now, I tasted it, and the question torments me: what was it? Isn't it a fairy tale about the naked king? Why was everyone praising, but I don't like it so much that I'm sure I shouldn't have even tried it?
Well, okay, let's go back to our rams (this is an expression, if that), but in fact - to jam.
As a child, I happened to very much offend a certain lady. Either she was a relative of a very distant (well, oh-oh-oh-very distant) or a friend - also distant, to our family, but she appeared only once.
Uninvited, unexpected, at dawn (as soon as public transport began to go), with a large bag at the ready and said: and I will visit you! It was not customary to go on a visit empty-handed in those days, so gifts were hidden in the bag. And most of these goodies are banks.
Jars were hiding jam. One kind, one kind.
- Zucchini! - The lady announced with pride, and I... I refused to eat it. And my brother, in my opinion, too. We were sure - zucchini are good in squash caviar, well, or stewed - with tomatoes, sweet peppers, with herbs, in summer. And in winter, but cooked with sugar - well, to hell with it!
The lady was very offended at us - they say, she dragged and dragged, but you do not eat, and all the time of her guesting, not whining, so rolling, persuaded to try a spoon - they say, it's delicious. We held on with the steadfastness of the tin soldiers.
Thirty (even a little more years) have passed, during which time they tried to regale me with marrow jam many times, and now, finally, I decided to try it.
I sit and try to understand: why do they love him?
There is only one answer: simply because zucchini is available, they grow so that by the end of summer people do not know what else to cook from them. And their taste is completely neutral. I would even compare zucchini to soybeans: they acquire the flavor of the accompanying product.
This jam is made according to the "classic recipe" as I was told:
• Kilogram of zucchini
• Kilogram of sugar
• One lemon
• Half a glass of water
And it tastes... just the taste of sugar syrup with lemon. It is very flat and rough. Lemon, sugar, somewhere in the background something “like” breaks through, not sugar-lemon, but all this is clogged with lemon harshness and sugar sugaryness.
You know, sprinkle the lemon with sugar and let it brew so that it starts up the juice - and that will be tastier than messing around with cooking squash jam. The only thing is that the zucchini in it are funny. They can be chewed, they are firm and do not creep. So for such a structure of the zucchini themselves is definitely a plus.
But…
I have not tried it for thirty years and... it would have been better if I hadn't tried it at all. This is my opinion, for someone, maybe, such sugary-sweet desserts come in.
PS. If you like zucchini jam, tell us how you cook and what exactly do you like?