The best ideas for preserving

Store the pumpkin properly

Pumpkin varieties such as:

• Hokkaido
• Butternut,
• Spaghetti squash,
• Nutmeg Pumpkin

can be used for up to eight months, provided the skin is intact and the pumpkin does not show any bruises. The stalk must also remain on the vegetable, otherwise putrefactive and mold bacteria could penetrate.

Store the autumn vegetables in a cool, dry and dark basement room. It is ideal to put the pumpkins in disused potato nets and hang them up.

Freeze the pumpkin pulp

You can use the autumn vegetables Freeze raw or processed into puree:

• Freezing raw pumpkin meat: Cut the raw pulp into cubes and fill in freezer bags. You should avoid blanching, as this will make the meat of the autumn vegetables very mushy.
• Freeze cooked pumpkin: Pumpkin is used as a soup base, for example. Steam the prepared pumpkin meat for 20 minutes until tender. Put it in a bowl and chop it up with the hand blender. Pour into a container and freeze.

Preserve the pumpkin by boiling it down

Canning is a proven way to preserve fruits and vegetables. Traditionally, the autumn vegetables are preserved in sweet and sour pickles. Pumpkin jam or pumpkin chutney are a tasty alternative. Even Pumpkin can be bred and thus always have the basis for delicious soups at hand.

Make pumpkin ketchup

Children in particular are enthusiastic about the taste of this ketchup.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg of pumpkin meat
• 150 ml of white vinegar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 300 g of sugar
• 1 teaspoon mild curry powder
• Salt and cayenne pepper to taste

preparation

1. Peel the pumpkin, scrape out the seeds and dice.
2. Cook in salted water for about 20 minutes until soft.
3. Pour off the cooking water and puree the pumpkin flesh.
4. Add all other ingredients and simmer while stirring until the mixture has a creamy ketchup consistency.
5. Season again to taste, boil once and fill immediately into previously sterilized twist-off glasses or bottles with swing top.
6. Seal, let cool and store in a cool, dark place.

The pumpkin ketchup will keep for about a year.