Canning Pumpkin

Canning pumpkin for pumpkin breads, pies and whatever else your heart desires is a great way to experience the wonderful taste of REAL pumpkin any time you want.  It is a bit more work because you must first cook the pumpkin to soften and remove the thick outer skin.  After that, just cube and process in a pressure canner making sure to follow required time and pressure guidelines.

I used two small pie pumpkins (4-6 lbs.) purchased from a local grower.  I yielded 6 quarts and one quart will make about two pumpkin pies if you use the shallow pie crusts.

I wanted to make a "medium" simple syrup to pour over the pumpkins for processing instead of plain water so that the pumpkin cubes would already be sweetened.  This means I won't have to add much extra sugar when I am ready to use them in cooking.  And believe me they are so sweet and delicious I could eat them straight from the jar.

Syrup:
5 cups water
3 1/4 cups sugar

 

Bake pumpkins till they begin to "squat" and the skin begins to bubble up off of the flesh.

This took about an hour at 350.

 

Then cut your pumpkins in half and begin to remove the skin.

 

 

After the skin is removed, cube and place in your clean jars.

 

 

Pour the simple syrup over the pumpkin cubes and process in the pressure canner for 90 minutes at 11 psi. Let cool, then they are ready to use!