Category Archives: Pumpkin

The easiest pumpkin soup recipe ever and … my pressure canner to the rescue

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Everyone has their favourite pumpkin soup recipe.  My favourite is one I have posted before – Pumpkin, cashew and coriander soup.  It is a beauty (check it out here) but it does take a bit of effort.  And there are plenty of times when effort does not figure.  For those times, I have been dreaming of a recipe my mum used to make.  I had it hand written in my recipe book but somehow I lost it.  I did ask my sisters but to no avail.   I remembered the ingredients – chicken stock, pumpkin, tomatoes and onion but I couldn’t remember the proportions.

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Candied pumpkin

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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. Continue reading →

Pressure canners

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185copyWhen I started this blog, I included a category entitled “My Favourite Things”.  I haven’t added much to it but, lately, I have been thinking about my pressure canner and it occurred to me that it sure deserves a spot in that category.

I bought my Presto Pressure Canner from Redback Trading Company whilst I was still working.  It was one of those items I dreamt I would need in retirement. It epitomised the life I wanted to lead.   Well, I am living that life now, and my pressure canner is being put to use. Continue reading →