The sweetness that comes from good quality vegetables is much more balancing and nourishing for our bodies and more stabilizing for blood sugar than refined sweeteners and fruit. This recipe is for a slow cooked and pureed vegetable spread that can be used as a vegetable alternative to fruit spreads. I love it on steamed bread and morning porridge and I am sure you will find many different uses. When you first try it, don’t expect it to taste like traditional jam. Find ways to incorporate it into your diet and let it do its magic.

Sweet Vegetable Jam

    • Choose one or a combination of onion, carrot, winter squash
    • Sea Salt

1.  Wash and cut the vegetables into even 1-2 inch pieces. If you are using winter squash, you can leave the skin on if it is the kind that will get soft and edible (such as kabocha, red kuri, delicata, butternut). If you are leaving the skin on, go around it with a knife and cut any harder pieces off because these won’t get soft no matter how long you cook it.

2.  If you are using more than one vegetable, layer in this order:  onion, squash, carrot. Use a small to medium size heavy bottom stainless steel or enamel coated cast iron pot with a tight fitting lid. Use an amount of vegetables that will fit snug in the pot you are using.

3.  After adding the vegetables, add about an inch of water to the pot. Bring to a boil on medium heat, turn heat to simmer about as low as you can get it to go, and cover. A flame tamer will be helpful here. Simmer for 3-4 hours checking every once in a while to make sure there is enough water in the pot. You don’t want too much liquid, though, because you want the finished product to be thick after you puree it.

4. When you have decided the vegetables have cooked long enough, add a few pinches of salt and let cook for about 15 more minutes.

5.  Remove from heat and cool. Puree in a food processor or blender. Enjoy!

6.  The spread will last in the refrigerator for about one week.

Note:  You can also use green cabbage in this sweet vegetable jam. I usually add it about halfway through the cooking time.