I’m interested in this recipe, not because I want to make it, but I just really wonder at the labour involved in making something like this. I’m sure no-one these days, except as research would make this recipe… for one thing I think our tastes have changed, but also how would you eat it, why would you eat it, and would it be worth all the preparation to make it so you could eat it? I can imagine me making it and offering a dish of it to the children and them politely declining it, or offering it to guests who are with us for lunch and they accept a tiny spoonful which remains on the edge of their plates. I can imagine jars of it going into the cupboard under the stairs and staying there for ever.
It is describes as an ancestral recipe from Schleswig-Holstein and it is for sweet pickled marrow. Now I imagine that marrow is a cheap and easy vegetable to grow, it grows hugely so there would be plenty of it to have to store in some way. There is only so much marrow you can eat fresh! I am very fond of marrow served with a peppery white sauce, but I would only want a small portion.
So here I am with eight pounds of prepared marrow (however much did it weigh before it was prepared?!) and I start to make the chutney. I consult the recipe, and just in case you wish to try it, here it is:
- 8 lbs prepared marrow
- 1 quart white vinegar
- 3 lbs sugar
- 2/3 cinnamon stick (the weight of 2 pennies)
- ½ oz whole cloves (the weight of a penny
- prepare the marrow by peeling and scooping out the pith and seeds, cut into pieces about 1½inch long by ½inch
- boil the vinegar, sugar and spices (cinnamon and cloves can be loose or in a muslin bag)
- add the marrow all at once and cook gently, stirring occasionally until it is clear or translucent but still firm
- drain and cool
- reboil the vinegar until it is syrupy, adding any liquor which has drained from the marrow.
- reduce to about 1½ pints
- place marrow in jars and pour over the liquor
I have a couple of observations to make; the amount of spice for the quantity is tiny (the pennies are the old pre-decimal currency, but even so, they don’t weigh a great deal) So spices must have been relatively expensive… but on the other hand if you are making spiced marrow you probably aren’t very well off anyway. I’m not sure that the amount of liquor would be enough to cover all that marrow packed in jars… and also I would rather like to know in advance how many jars I will need. I also would like to know what I would eat it with… cold meat? Cheese? Sausage? Pickled herring?
Iam not being critical of the recipe, I just think it shows how much times have changed! The recipe book was published in 1969 and reprinted in 1974 and was for sale at 14p!
Lois Elsden 