Preserves in the wrong place: green tomato, pumpkin and lemon

There is a category of preserve that struggles to find its place in Italy: the ones made from vegetables rather than fruit. On the breakfast table they seem odd. On a cheeseboard they become obvious.

Green tomato and ginger

Three ingredients: green tomatoes (66%), sugar and ginger. It comes from a country habit — at the end of the season the tomatoes that will never ripen are still on the plant, and throwing them away was not done.

The result is sweet with an acidic undertow that lingers, and the ginger lays a sharp note over the top. It resembles no fruit preserve at all.

Where to put it: on a semi-aged pecorino it is close to perfect. It also works with fresh goat's cheeses and beside a boiled meat dish.

Pumpkin and lemon

Pumpkin on its own would be sweet and no more — a little flat. The lemon gives it the edge it lacks: freshness and an acidity that keeps the mouth awake.

Where to put it: blue cheeses, where the sweetness of the pumpkin takes the heat off the mould. But also, this one, on a slice of toast with butter.

And the fruit ones, then?

They remain what they have always been, and they do very well where you expect them.

The Plum Preserve is the base for tarts: it holds up to baking without going watery. Apple, Ginger and Cinnamon is a winter preserve, for strudel and festive baking, and it sits well beside a cheese too.

The Melon Jelly is the odd one out: melon is difficult to preserve because it holds a lot of water and little pectin of its own, and the jelly is the way to make it last. Spread on white bread with a veil of ricotta, or — if you want to play — with raw ham, which is the old melon pairing in disguise.

How to build a board

There is one rule: the stronger the cheese, the sweeter the preserve can be. A blue carries the pumpkin; a fresh pecorino would be buried by the same amount.

Generous portions are not needed. A teaspoon beside each cheese, not on top: they are eaten together, not mixed.

And always keep a separate spoon for each jar, or after two rounds you will have four preserves that all taste of the strongest.