Guest guest Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 With our pie pumpkins only a few weeks away from the beginning of harvesting, I wanted to write about how to prepare a pumpkin to make your own "solid pack" pumpkin for pies, cookies, breads and other treats. Most people are familiar with 3 basic types of pumpkins. The large jack-o-lantern types, the smaller pie pumpkins, and the miniature ornamental pumpkins. The large lack-o-lantern and the pie pumpkins can both be made into pies but there is a difference in the taste and texture. Jack-o-lantern or large pumpkins contain more water once the pulp is cooked and due to it not being as sweet it will need about 25% more sugar added to it to make it sweet enough for your recipes. Often the pulp is more fiberous/stringy than the pie pumpkins. Pie pumpkins average about 8 inch diameter up to about the size of a soccer ball. My favorite variety of pie pumpkin is the Small Sugar (aka Sugar Baby) pumpkins. They have a sweet flavor, very small seed cavity and a much thicker pulp layer. Making your own pumpkin puree (similar to solid pack pumpkin) you start by cutting the pie pumpkin in half and removing the seeds and stringy fibers from the seed cavity. I bake the pumpkin in a roasting pan with about a 1/2 inch of water. I cover the pan and bake at 350*F. until the pumpkin is very soft, about 1 1/2 hours. Scoop the pulp out of the pumpkin shell and place into a container. Let cool to nearly room temperature. If using a jack-o-lantern type of pumpkin, you will need to pour off any water from the container once the pumpkin has cooled. Pie pumpkins are drier so there should be little to no water in their container. Next, you will blend the pulp with a mixer to make a smooth puree. Once your have the puree made, measure the puree into 2-cup quantities and freeze in freezer bags or containers. The reason I mention 2-cup quantity is due to most recipes will call for that amount of solid pack pumpkin. Check your recipes. If they require a different amount, then measure the pumpkin in the amount needed. Label and freeze. The USDA recommends that you do not home can pureed pumpkin or winter squash. They have not yet determined how long the processing time should be to remove the bad bacterias & pathogens from the pumpkin in the pressure canning process. Until they are able to determine the safe amount of processing time, it is strongly recommended that you freeze the pumpkin and winter squash purees. If you do choose to home can your pumpkin, they recommend cutting the pumpkin up into cubes and canning it. You can read more about how to safely preserve pumpkin and also how to dry & roast pumpkin seeds at: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/tips/fall/pumpkins.html. Love, The Oklahoma Tomcat http://joneshomestead.tripod.com/My blog: http://thelifeofanoklhahomatomcat.blogspot.com/My : jonesfamilyhomestead/-----------I believe - That just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn'tmean they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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