Adventures in Pumpkin Butter

            A prepared culinary artist would have peeled the skin and placed their pumpkin in cheese cloth to drain… I had used the majority of my “emergency” cheese cloth on another adventure (ricotta cheese) and had not replenished my supplies. I did some creative draining and was ready to create my puree. You can use a blender if you do not have a food processor, but in this aspect luck weighed in my favor. After my puree was completed, I piled all of my ingredients into a crock pot. Most pumpkin butter is made on the stove top, which I have heard requires a couple hours of constant stirring…which is a lot of work.

             As I mentioned earlier, part of my objective when I was planning my pumpkin butter was to minimize the number of ingredients I was to use in order to cut down on costs. I narrowed down the mandatory ingredients down to ginger, cinnamon, all-spice, cloves, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Then I picked two indulgent ingredients which would set my recipe apart. These ended up being real maple syrup and caramel. Feeling bold, I poured in the various spices and sweeteners to taste. The thing that is wonderful about using a crock pot, is that the only thing required of you is  wonderful about using a crock pot, is that the only thing required of you is to stir the butter about every forty minutes to an hour on high. As my concoction bubbled, I boiled my jars and lids to sanitize them and allowed them to air dry. I then used a wide mouthed funnel to ladle in the contents and put the lids on the jars while the ingredients were still hot. Pouring in the pumpkin butter while it is still hot helps to create the vacuum seal at the top of the jars. There are extra steps you can take to help the butters last longer, but that is an endeavor for next year. Over-all, I found the experience completely rewarding and look forward to my next adventure. I think it is a great way to make holiday gifts and a wonderful way to spend time with the family! Check out the U-Pick tab to get more information on our produce availability!

Categorised in: Pumpkins, U-Pick

This post was written by Jim Riley