Jam Session

Pumpkin and Winter Squash

The pumpkin, or winter squash, is native to the Americas and was introduced in Europe by the Spanish explorers during the Columbian Exchange. In most countries of the Old and New Worlds, pumpkin or winter squash is enjoyed both as a savory and as a sweet. We Americans love pumpkin pie and enjoy a rich pumpkin butter to spread on toast. The word pumpkin seems to be more appealing than winter squash to the dining public, despite the fact that most canned “pumpkin” is butternut squash. I suspect our preference must be due to all those stories about the pilgrims and Native Americans at Thanksgiving.

For the sake of simplicity, I refer to these hardy winter squashes as pumpkin or pumpkin squash. As most true pumpkins are watery and often stringy when cooked, I opt for butternut squash when making pumpkin preserves or pumpkin butter. Kabocha would also work well. Pumpkin squash may be cooked in water or roasted in the oven. For smooth jams and butters, I prefer roasting.

In Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, cooks have established a successful preserving technique. First the pumpkin squash is cooked in water until tender and drained, and then it is cooked in sugar syrup until it becomes a spoonable preserve. The pumpkin may be diced or cut into strips, but it can also be grated for a finer texture if it is to be used exclusively as a preserve or cake filling. Cooks like to perfume preserved pumpkin squash with a little cinnamon or clove and orange-flower water. From Spain and Portugal, pumpkin sweets made their way to Turkey and the Balkans, where they prefer their pumpkin preserves chunky, like a spoon sweet. Walnuts or pine nuts may be added to provide even more texture.

For hundreds of years, families have prepared pumpkin squash preserves without a concern about food safety, but recently the U.S. National Center of Home Food Preservation has issued a warning about canning pumpkin. It raised these safety concerns because pumpkins lack proper acidity for long-term preserving with the boiling water-bath method. To quote, “Gelled preserves rely on the natural acidity in most fruits for safe food preservation. Most fruits have natural acids, so the resulting jams can be safely canned in a boiling water bath. Pumpkin, however, is a low-acid fruit and cannot be safely canned in a boiling water bath. A jam or sweetened preserve would have to have enough sugar and/or added acid to be treated safely without concerns for botulism. A certain acidity level is also required to cause the pectin molecule to form a gel structure. The USDA and Georgia Cooperative Extension currently do not have any tested recipes to recommend for safely canning pumpkin preserves and storing them at room temperature.” They also say that pureed pumpkin is too dense for the heat to penetrate in the boiling water bath. I am bewildered by this, because I do not find pureed pumpkin squash any denser than quince or carrot puree, for which they offer no density warning.

I do not, however, put up plain canned pumpkin. My pumpkin preserves have lots of sugar and ample, some might even say excessive, acidity from citrus fruits. And I add citric acid crystals as insurance. These preserves have sufficient body, so they do not need to gel. I process them in a boiling water bath for 20 to 25 minutes—plenty of time for them to heat through. My recipes follow the traditions and techniques of the Turks, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, French, Spaniards, and Portuguese, as well as of many American families.

So caveat emptor. You may make these pumpkin preserves and freeze or refrigerate them. Or you may follow the recipes and add lots of citrus and sugar, along with citric acid to each jar, as insurance, and process in a boiling water bath. Once opened, pumpkin jams and butters do not hold for a long time and so should be refrigerated and eaten within 2 weeks.

Fruit butters are classic Americana, and for many years, my culinary interests have been tilted toward the Mediterranean, so fruit butters had not been in my preserving repertoire until just a few years ago, when I was asked to produce a pumpkin butter for Bi-Rite Market. It sold very well, and then my daughter gave jars as holiday gifts to my grandson’s teachers, and they requested more—independent confirmation that this recipe is a hit.

You may like this sweeter than I do. I start with 3 cups of sugar and add more to taste.

This butter is great on toast, pancakes, and waffles. Or turn it into a tart or pie filling, using it in place of the same amount of canned pumpkin the recipe calls for. It can also be folded into cheesecake filling to flavor it.

Place the whole squash on the baking sheet or halve the squash and place it cut-side up. Roast until tender, 2 to 3 hours if whole, 1 to 1½ hours if halved. Remove from the oven.

When the squash is cool enough to handle, peel it and discard the seeds. Transfer the squash to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until pureed. Place the puree in a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl and drain off the excess water, which takes about 60 minutes. You will need 6 cups of drained puree for this recipe. Save any extra to use for soup.

Wash and dry the food processor bowl and then add the lemons and pulse until finely pureed. You will have ½ to 2⁄3 cup.

Place the orange in the food processor bowl and pulse until finely pureed. You will have about ½ cup.

Place the fresh ginger in the food processor bowl and pulse until finely pureed. You will have about 1 cup.

Place a baking sheet on the counter near your stove. Heat a kettle of water. Set two stockpots on the stove and fill them with enough water to cover the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Sterilize the jars (see this page) in the water bath.

In a large preserving pot over medium-low heat, combine the 6 cups of squash puree, lemons, orange, pureed ginger, apple cider, lemon juice, 3 cups of the sugar, salt, ground ginger, and cinnamon and simmer, stirring frequently with a long-handled silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture is very thick, scraping the bottom and the sides of the pot to prevent sticking and scorching. This can take 60 minutes or longer. Add up to the remaining 1 cup sugar and/or lemon juice to taste. The mixture may spit and pop a bit, so if you have a splatter screen, you may want to use it. Wear long pot-holder gloves, too. Alternatively, after 15 minutes of stove-top cooking, you may transfer the mixture to a shallow baking pan and finish the butter in a 300°F oven, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes until the mixture is very thick. Taste again and add the vanilla or Fiori di Sicilia and the Maras pepper. The butter is ready when it is very thick and passes the plate test (see this page), mounding on the plate. Remove the pot from the heat.

Bring the water bath back to a boil. If the jars have cooled, warm them in the water bath or in a 200°F oven. Simmer the lids in a saucepan of hot water. Place the jars on the baking sheet.

Ladle the pumpkin butter into the jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Wipe the rims clean and set the lids on the mouths of the jars. Twist on the rings.

Using a jar lifter, gently lower the jars into the pots. When the water returns to a boil, decrease the heat to an active simmer, and process the jars for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water for 1 to 2 minutes.

Using the jar lifter, transfer the jars from the pots to the baking sheet and let sit for at least 6 hours, until cool enough to handle. Check to be sure the jars have sealed (see this page). Label and store the sealed pumpkin butter for 6 months to 2 years. Once open, store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

In Turkey and Greece, the pumpkin squash for this preserve is cut into large dice or strips. It is eaten as a spoon sweet with a glass of ice water, but there is nothing stopping you from spooning it over rice pudding or ice cream.

2 pounds pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice or strips that are ½ inch by 2 inches

3 whole cloves, or 1 cinnamon stick or 3 star anise pods or 1 vanilla bean (optional), plus more as needed

In a large preserving pot over medium-high heat, combine the sugar, water, lemon juice, and lemon peel and boil until the syrup begins to thicken. Set aside.

Place the pumpkin in a saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium heat until the pumpkin is just barely tender but still holding its shape, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer the pumpkin to a colander to drain.

Add the pumpkin to the syrup along with the cloves or cinnamon or star anise or vanilla bean. Set aside and let the pumpkin sit in the syrup overnight.

The next day, place a baking sheet on the counter near your stove. Heat a kettle of water. Set two stockpots on the stove and fill them with enough water to cover the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Sterilize the jars (see this page) in the water bath.

Bring the pumpkin mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Taste and add more lemon juice or spice. Continue to cook, stirring frequently with a long-handled silicon spatula or wooden spoon, scraping the bottom and the sides of the pot to prevent sticking and scorching. The preserves are ready when it is very thick and passes the plate test (see this page), mounding on the plate. Stir in the walnuts and orange-flower water at the end of cooking. Remove the pot from the heat.

Bring the water bath back to a boil. If the jars have cooled, warm them in the water bath or in a 200°F oven. Simmer the lids in a saucepan of hot water. Place the jars on the baking sheet.

Ladle the preserves into the jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Run a knife along the inside of the jars to break up any air bubbles. Wipe the rims clean and set the lids on the mouths of the jars. Twist on the rings.

Using the jar lifter, transfer the jars from the pots to the baking sheet and let sit for at least 6 hours, until cool enough to handle. Check to be sure the jars have sealed (see this page). Label and store the sealed preserves for 6 months to 2 years. Once open, store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

— Slice 2 Meyer lemons or Eureka lemons thinly on a mandoline, cut the slices in halves or quarters, and blanch for 30 seconds in boiling water, repeating the blanching two times for Meyer lemons and three times for Eureka or Lisbon lemons. Add the cooked lemon slices to the syrup when you add the pumpkin and cook until all are tender.

This is a Spanish preserve called cabello de angel, which translates to “angel hair.” It is used as a pie and tart filling and would be good layered in a filo pie.

You may also want to try this jam using only orange peel and orange juice, not a mix of lemon and orange. This recipe has so much citrus in it that I do not add citric acid, but you can if you prefer the insurance.

1 cup lemon juice, plus grated zest and juice of 2 lemons, and more juice as needed

Grate the squash, using a food processor fitted with the grater blade. You will have 6 to 7 cups.

In a large preserving pot over medium-high heat, combine the squash, 2 cups water, and 1 cup lemon juice and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the lemon zest and juice and orange zest and juice to the squash, along with the sugar, ginger, and cinnamon, and cook over medium heat until it thickens. Simmer a few minutes longer and then do the plate test (see this page). The jam should be thick and the juices condensed, but not stiff or dry. If the juices have mostly been absorbed, add more water or lemon juice to thin the preserves. Add a dash of orange-flower water or vanilla if you like. Increase the heat to high and bring the jam to a boil briefly, stirring constantly. Remove the pot from the heat.

Bring the water bath back to a boil. If the jars have cooled, warm them in the water bath or in a 200°F oven. Simmer the lids in a saucepan of hot water. Place the jars on the baking sheet.

Ladle the jam into the jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Run a knife along the inside of the jars to break up any air bubbles. Wipe the rims clean and set the lids on the mouths of the jars. Twist on the rings.

Using the jar lifter, transfer the jars from the pots to the baking sheet and let sit for at least 6 hours, until cool enough to handle. Check to be sure the jars have sealed (see this page). Label and store the sealed jam for 6 months to 2 years. Once open, store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.