The older of the two farmers, Hoyt Combs, told me I "better not carve no face into those or make a jack-0'-lantern; those are for eatin!" And so, I decided to make pumpkin butter today.
As usual, I didn't really follow any exact recipe. I looked at a few basic pumpkin butter ingredient lists, and pretty much added how much I, particularly my tongue, felt was right.
Here are general amounts, trying hard not to use words like "pinch" or "dash".
- 10 cups of puréed pumpkin
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
- Assemble it
I used the larger heirloom pumpkin, some really nice Vietnamese cinnamon. I didn't use the arrowhead pictured, but I did find it yesterday! (I'll shamelessly show 'em off any chance I get)
2. Cut 'em open, save the seeds
Next, I cut the pumpkin in half, and pulled out the seeds. The seeds can be roasted in the oven as you cook the pumpkin, and make a good cooking-snack if you bake them with a little brown sugar and salt. Then, take a spoon and scrape the excess "seed debris" from the inside.
3. Cut & Bake
4. Sterilize Jars
5. Purée, add ingredients, and boil
I strongly reccomend stirring constantly while boiling. This stuff can be pretty thick, so boiling bubbles have the tendency to burst, launching bits of flaming goo onto your extremeties and face. So, stir constantly, unless you wish to pay a visit to the aloe plant as I did.
The result: about 8 1/2 8oz jars of pumpkin butter
This stuff turned out pretty good, and I'll be curious to know how it will age and, as always, if any family members mysteriously catch a case of botulism.
Some things to keep in mind and tips:
I've heard that the conventional pumpkins you buy for halloween can be a bit bland and wattery, as well as the pre-canned purée from the store. This pumpkin was really sweet and needed a fraction of the sugar that most recipes called for. Try finding a local farmer who grows pumpkins and ask about different varieties for baking.
Minimize waste by: composting what you don't use and washing the dishes with the water that was used for boiling the jars/lids. You can also just reuse old jars and lids instead of buying a new set.
Minimize waste by: composting what you don't use and washing the dishes with the water that was used for boiling the jars/lids. You can also just reuse old jars and lids instead of buying a new set.