October FotM Tips: Squash & Pumpkin Seeds

During the prep of pumpkins and winter squash we set the seeds aside for planting and to make roasted pumpkin seeds (or other squash seeds if you’d like)... Whenever preparing pie pumpkins or even carving Jack-O-Lanterns, save the seeds!

First, you'll need to scoop out the seeds, of course...

Look at all of that gunk.

Before you use the squash seeds for anything soak them in water.

This will help remove the goop and gunk from the seeds and make them clean,

after some gentle rubbing.

Cleaned up and ready for...

...drying to use in the garden next year.

...or roasting to munch on now!

Just oil them generously and sprinkle with sugar or salt and spices if you'd like.

Roast them at 400° for about 10 minutes, stirring halfway through.

If they look like they need a little more time, give them another couple of minutes, but be sure to check them frequently because once they start looking toasted, they'll get dark quickly.

Yummy, yummy!

October FotM Recipe: Pumpkin Butters

Yesterday, my house smelled like autumn.  We had two slow-cookers going with two very different kinds of pumpkin butter...  both turned out delicious.  Here's how we did it.

Original recipe 

(makes 8 half-pint jars)

1 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1 (5 pound) fresh pumpkin - seeded, peeled, and cut into 2-inch cubes

Reduced Sugar Pumpkin Butter

(printable version of this recipe can be found here)

Our altered recipe:

(also should make 8 half pint jars, but we got more like 5)

1 cup (Domino) sugar/stevia blend

3 tablespoons pumpkin spice blend (recipe from angrychicken.typepad.com)

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

1 (5 lb.) fresh pumpkin; seeded, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes

⅔ cup spiced apple cider

...the cast…

...prepped pumpkin..

...sugar and spice makes everything nice…

...everyone in the hot tub…

Cook it over high heat, vented, for 3 to 3½  hours

...stir it up…

(every hour or so)

...repeatedly..

...then puree (or mash) it when you think it looks, smells and tastes delicious…

...spoon it into sanitized canning jars (or other airtight containers),

be sure to leave ½” of headspace to allow for expansion, let them cool…

...then stick them in the freezer…

Pureed or mashed pumpkin or squash will keep quite well for a good, long time in the freezer.  I’ve kept it for about 2 to 2 ½ years -which I’m not recommending- but the only damage I noticed was a little bit of freezer burn, which was easy to remove and didn’t seem to affect the flavor once removed.  

We also made this:

Whiskey Maple Pecan Pumpkin Butter (tipsy pumpkin butter)

(printable version of this recipe can be found here)

5 lb pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cubed

2/3 cup apple cider

1/2 cup good quality whiskey (we used Jameson)

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp real maple syrup

2 1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 cup pecans

Set aside whiskey and pecans.  Combine all of the other ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high for 3 to 3½  hours or until it’s thick (keep in mind that it will thicken a bit more after cooling).

While that’s cooking, preheat the oven to 350° and toast the pecans.  Once cooled, run them through a food processor or crush them by hand until the texture is to your liking.

Add whiskey to pumpkin mixture when it looks like it’s almost done (about 30 minutes to an hour before you take it off the heat).

Once it’s thickened to your liking, fold in the pecans.  Store in canning jars (or airtight containers) for about a month in the fridge or longer in the freezer.

YUM.

Have you ever made pumpkin butter?  How was it?

If you try either of these recipes, please let us know what you think!

...leave a comment with your thoughts and/or questions!

October's food of the month: Pumpkin and winter squash

Autumn brings changing leaves, a chill to the air and pumpkin spiced *everything*.  Our recent Trader Joe's shopping trip proves this.  I'm pretty sure that 7 out of the ten things I bought were pumpkin flavored.  Nom!

So, rather than encouraging you to go out and buy a bunch of pumpkin flavored stuff, let's learn to grow and make stuff together...

This month we're going to talk about pumpkins,

butternut squash, acorn squash and delicata squash.

So you don't have to "gourd" yourself on information, we've done some of the legwork for you:

Growing/Harvest

The growing conditions for pumpkins and winter squash are very similar.  Generally, it's a good idea to start seeds indoors 2-4 weeks before the last spring frost and the soil should be warm before transplanting (this means around Mother's Day in the Midwest).  Pumpkins and winter squash will be happiest in nutrient-rich soil and when watered frequently (daily or every-other day).

Storage

After you bring your pumpkin/squash home, store it out of direct sunlight and, if displaying outside, cover them with a towel or blanket to fight against frost if the temperature drops below freezing (32°).  Be sure to keep your pumpkins and squash on straw or cardboard, avoid concrete or linoleum, and they can keep for 3 to 6 months if stored properly (visit http://allaboutpumpkins.com/storing.html for more information).

Pumpkin growing/harvest/storage information from almanac.com

Winter squash growing/harvest/storage information from almanac.com

Preserving

We don’t want to squash anyone’s dreams but, it’s not safe to can any kind of squash, unless it’s pickled… so freezing is probably your best option here.  Fortunately, it freezes *very* well.  Here are a few ways to do so…

• purees (http://www.pickyourown.org/freezing_pumpkin.htm)
• cube, blanch then freeze
• butters

Recipes

There is an abundance of pumpkin/squash recipes available online.  In the coming weeks, we’ll try out a few and let you know what we think of them.  If there’s something you’d like us to try this month, let us know and we’ll do our best to try it out for you.

Any questions or thoughts?  Let us know and leave a comment!

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