I’ve had a large pumpkin sitting on my front porch for close to two months. Now that the Fall holidays are past, it was time to compost it – but then I remembered seeing a recipe for Preserved Pumpkin in a hundred-year-old magazine. I dug out the recipe. Preserved Pumpkin actually was a pickled pumpkin recipe. In addition to strips of pumpkin, it called for sugar, lemon juice and peel, and ginger. The recipe looked intriguing – but like many pickle recipes it looked like a lot of work and required letting the pumpkin strips sit in the syrup for several days before cooking. I kept thinking – just toss the pumpkin and be done with it. But. . .
I couldn’t get the Preserved Pumpkin recipe out of my mind (my life must be boring), and ended up making a small batch. And, I’m glad that I did. I peeled, seeded, and cut into strips about one quarter of the pumpkin and composted the rest.
The Preserved Pumpkin was wonderful with a lovely sweet, citrusy flavor. I’m not exactly sure how to describe the texture. The pumpkin strips were sort of crunchy – or perhaps they were slightly chewy. Maybe a better description is that the texture was at the intersection of crunchy and chewy, if there is such a thing. The Preserved Pumpkin almost seemed gourmet and I could picture it being served at a very nice restaurant as a palette cleanser. I anticipate that I will make this recipe again next year.
Here’s the original recipe:
When I made this recipe 1/2 inch seemed very thick for the slices, so I made them approximately 1/4 inch thick. I also ended up with about 2 1/2 pounds of pumpkin strips (rather than the 2 pounds called for when doubling the recipe). I decided to proceed with a little extra pumpkin and the recipe worked fine.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Preserved Pumpkin
approximately 2 1/2 pounds pumpkin, peeled and seeded then cut into strips 1/4-inch thick
2 pounds sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
lemon peel from 2 lemons, cut into thin strips
juice from 4 lemons
1 cup water
Put a layer of pumpkin slices in an enameled pan, crock, or large baking dish. Put a layer of sugar over the pumpkin, as well as some lemon peel strips and ground ginger. Repeat alternating layers. Pour the lemon juice over the layered pumpkin mixture. Cover and set in the refrigerator or other cool spot for two t0 three days. Then put the mixture in a large enamel or stainless steel pan. Add the water. Bring to a boil using medium heat; then reduce heat and simmer until the pumpkin slices are tender and translucent (about 20-3o minutes). Lift the pumpkin slices and lemon strips out and pack them into pint jars. Continue boiling the syrup for another 10-15 minutes, then pour the hot syrup over the packed pumpkin and lemon. Fill to 1/4 inch of top. Wipe jar rims and put lid on. Process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes.
Interesting. Would it be added as a topping for a dessert or eaten alone?
I ate it separately; more like a pickle – though maybe it would work as a topping if it was cut into small pieces.
What a neat idea! It sounds delicious.
It is tasty.
It could be part of a 7 sweets and 7 sours set ups on a table!!!! This is close to what I do when I make watermelon rind pickles…
Exactly – when I wrote this post, I thought about saying that the Preserved Pumpkin reminded me a little of Watermelon Rind Pickles, but I didn’t because I wasn’t sure how many people were familiar with them.
It is pretty, and makes me think of Dad’s pear chow chow! (Just because of how it looks in the jar.). That was a lot of work, but sounds like it was worth it.
I’ve never heard of pear chow chow, but it sounds good. I was pleased with how this recipe turned out and plan to make it again next year. The one thing that took me back when I made it was how much sugar the old recipe called for. It called for 1 lb. sugar for every 1 lb. of pumpkin. I used a slightly higher ratio of pumpkin to sugar, but it still was a lot.
Wow! That does sound like a lot of sugar–guess they were going for sweet pickles.
This looks delicious! I like the addition of lemon and ginger. 🙂
This is a really nice recipe. I was pleased with how it turned out.
This sounds delicious. It would make a great Christmas present too.
Yes, this would make a nice food gift.
What a great idea! It sounds really good!
It was tasty.
As an avid safe canner, I just want to make sure you are not treating the sealed jar as shelf stable. Pumpkin needs to be pressure canned to be safe even with added acid.
Thanks for the info.
It sounds delicious, but I’ll probably never make it.
I also have similar reactions sometimes when I read a recipe. Sometimes a recipe just isn’t quite right for me.