I still have 14 pumpkins from last year’s crop and I am told it is very difficult (impossible?) to store them over summer. Shit! I was under the impression that they could last out the year.
Oh, well, … I haven’t given up hope. Everything I have read says keep them in a cool dry place. As you all know, there is no such place during an Australian summer. The only other advice I have read to prolong their life is to wipe them with disinfectant. This protects them from bacteria. I washed my pumpkins in diluted Pine-O-Cleen, made sure they were perfectly dry, then put them in the cool room. Here’s hoping.
Postscript: I have just read this post where a pumpkin soaked in a weak bleach solution was still perfect after nine months. There is hope.
I don’t know why I am so worried about my pumpkins – I don’t much like the stuff. I like pumpkin soup and pumpkin scones and pumpkin cake but I don’t like the standard Australian fare of baked or mashed pumpkin. Most of the pumpkins we have consumed thusfar have gone into dog food. It is very good for them. It is probably good for me, too, but I don’t care.
My new found concern over the fate of my pumpkins was triggered by a post Bizzy Lizzy wrote on a sweet pumpkin dessert (from Deniz Göktürk Akçakanat’s Turkish Bakery Delight). Upon reading the post, I decided more effort was required. I have Deniz Göktürk Akçakanat’s book but was not even aware of the recipe. I had, however, photocopied and put in my “To do” file a very similar recipe for candied pumpkin from Stella Cohen’s book: Stella’s Sephardic Table: Jewish family recipes from the Mediterranean island of Rhodes. I decided to get the recipe out. It looked great – it preserved the pumpkin in a sweet syrup with ginger and almonds but required lime powder (calcium hydroxide) and I didn’t have any (and I am not so sure I want any). The lime powder firms up the pumpkin for preserving.
Next step was to go on to Eat Your Books to see if I had any other recipes. It seems I have piles of recipes for pumpkin cooked in syrup. It is, obviously, quite a popular dessert in the Middle East. I plied through all the recipes and settled on candied pumpkin from Sarah Woodward’s The Ottoman Kitchen. I still might make Stella’s – I will have to think about the calcium hydroxide a bit more or I may just omit it.
It is very, very good. I am sure most kids who are used to dried fruit would like it. It is sweet but not overly so. And the syrup that is left over tastes amazingly good in yoghurt. I am a convert.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of pumpkin (I started with a 1.33kg pumpkin. By the time I peeled it and took the seeds out, it was about 1kg)
- 250g sugar
- 150mls water
Method:
- Peel the pumpkin and remove the seeds. Cut the flesh into strips.
- Mix together the sugar and water in a large pan. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring all the while until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the pumpkin strips and simmer gently in the syrup for 45 minutes. Very gently stir the strips to ensure they cook evenly. Try not to break the pieces. I did very gentle lifts with an egg slide.
- Dry the pumpkin until leathery. I put my pieces on baking paper and dried them in the dehydrator. It took about a day. Alternatively, line a tray with baking paper and put them in your oven, with just the fan on, until they are dry and leathery.
Passion Fruit Garden 
I’m always interested in new recipes. And this candied pumpkin is amazing. It looks fantastic and I’m sure the taste as well.
Hi Thanks for stopping by and commenting. The pumpkin was very very tasty. It tasted very much like fruit leather but with a pumpkin flavour 🙂
I’ve never seen pumpkin prepared this way, Glenda, but your post has me interested. I’ll be baking a pumpkin pie for the holiday. Maybe I should buy 2 pumpkins. Thanks.
Hi John, I found this recipe in a Turkish Cookbook but it is only pumpkin, sugar and water. Those ingredients have no borders.
You could have posted this before I dealt with my enormous pumpkin. Now I have blocks of frozen roasted pumpkin when I could have been munching on candied pumpkin. Maybe next year.
Anne, it was surprisingly good. I am going to do another pumpkin next week.
Yum, I’ve never encountered anything pumpkin I haven’t loved 🙂
Ella, this is surprisingly good.
This sounds interesting and I can see where it would be a lot like any other dried fruit. We just don’t do much with real pumpkin here other than use them in Halloween decorations. If we make pumpkin pie or muffins we usually but a can of pumpkin. I always thought my mother made pumpkin pie from scratch using real pumpkins and once decided to try doing it. Oh man! The liquid! So I asked my mother about it and she said “are you crazy? Go buy a can of pumpkin and you’re done in no time”.
Hi Diane, It is just like dried fruit. I was quite amazed.
I wish I had your problem! I got 2 measly pumpkins last year about the size of an apple cucumber. Can’t say I’m sold on this idea but like so many things, need to try it and might get a nice surprise. I love just plain roasted pumpkin, really well done with caramelised edges that sticks to your teeth when you chew it! Yum 🙂
Hi Maree, This was seriously better than it sounds and Liz made a dessert with similar ingredients and she said it was delicious. Maybe we are just not used to pumpkin being sweet. I think I got 34 pumpkins last year (not that I am showing off) 😀
If I get a better harvest this season I may just give it a go! Cheers, M.
have you considered making a salad with roasted pumpkin (roast until there are a few black bits on the pumpkin, not quite caramelised but almost), a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, a chopped red onion, crumbled fetta and balsamic sprinkled over the top, simple and fantastic. I find the old fashioned Queenland blue pumkin has the most taste.
Hi Robyn – it is just that I am not a fan of roast pumpkin. I don’t know what is wrong with me.
The pumpkin dessert I shared tasted quite exquisite, Glenda, particularly with good vanilla bean ice cream… I wish I had pumpkins to stress about… can you please bring your farm and move next door xxxx
Liz, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. I think I will preserve some in sugar syrup (minus the calcium hydroxide). You have inspired me!! Move next door, you will love Bridgetown 🙂