Canning pumpkin question

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tobreth

Assistant Cook
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
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2
I have four pumpkins to cook down and preserve as pumpkin puree. I qassume this will be like canning applesauce. I have done that. But I have two problems. When I do applesauce, the applesauce and the jars are hot. When I cook and peel pumpkins, the pumpkins are no longer hot by the time it reaches a jar. And, the jars weren't heated. And of course, by now all is in fridge. Is there a way to can starting with cold jars and food? I have done steam canning, water bathing and have a pressure cooker if needed. Any help is much appreciated.
 
Going to take a look, but I'm pretty sure you would have to pressure can that stuff. Back shortly.
 
You DEFINITELY have to use a pressure canner for pumpkin, and it has to cook a good amount of time, because it is so dense.

The best way to cook fresh pumpkin used to be to cut the it in half, put it upside down on a foil-covered baking sheet, and cook in a 350 degree oven until it's soft and mushy. You then run it through a food mill, and go from there with the instructions you'll find on the above web sites.
I don't bother with fresh pumpkin anymore, but I'll bet you could prepare it the same way as above in the microwave...thing being, you could only do one half at a time. If I were faced with several pumpkins to cook, I'd use them both.

Be aware that your fresh pumpkin will not be orange like the canned product. This is because what you get in a can is not pumpkin...It's butternut squash. That doesn't mean your pumpkin won't be delicious...
I's just tan instead of orange.

I have had a couple of gardeners give me what they called "punkin". One turned out to be a Hubbard squash (BIG). The other, given to by my neighbor's maid's husband, back in the mid 60's when I lived on the bayou, was a big, green and white striped thing with a thick neck, called a Cushaw. I had no idea how to cook it, so I cut the whole thing up in 2" cubes (very hard cutting without a good knife) and simmered them in a pot with a little water. It took me hours to fix, but turned out sort of OK. The next time I talked to Naomi, the neighbor's maid and my forbidden friend, she said she would have gladly cooked that punkin for me.
 
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I usually try not to cook the pumpkin until i am ready to make pumpkin pie. I boil the pumpkin and use it a short time later. If anything is left over, it is immediately put in the freezer. The smaller varieties of pumpkins make better pumpkin pie compared to the larger "Jack-O-Lantern" pumpkins. I used pumpkin frozen the day before Thanksgiving for pie on December 23 and the pie turned out very well. freezing should keep the processed pumpkin good for months.
 
Most pumpkins/winter squash will keep quite well whole--I have 5 or 6 that I grew this summer still sitting in my sunroom. I cook them when I need them, and refrigerate/freeze leftovers.

I never bother with cooking pretty orange jack-o-lantern type pumpkins--they are stringy and watery. When I want "pumpkin" pie, I use butternut squash. (And I don't tell my kids--they don't "like" butternut squash pie. But they sure eat it up if they think it is pumpkin.:))
 

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