Pumpkin Butter

Rainy days here in Southern Minnesota as fall begins. Perfect weather for the last of the canning. The apples, grapes, squash and pumpkins to name a few. I also picked up some gourds this year and will be drying them and hopefully crafting with them in the spring, sooner if I am lucky. That is another post though.

For now I am filling my time with pumpkins. This year I made something I have never made before, have never even heard of before. Pumpkin butter. Every year I do apple butter, one of Dad's favorites, but pumpkin butter is new to me.

For Starters One Medium Roasted Pumpkin

After some internet research for recipes appropriate for canning up for the winter, I found one I was satisfied had a high enough acid content to be safe for winter canning. After roasting a nice pie pumpkin it was simmered in the crock pot until it was thick and yummy looking. I figured when a wooden spoon stood up straight in it, it was probably thick enough.

Simmering Away in the Crockpot

It was put into jars, given a hot water bath and there you have it. Cinnamony, citrusy, yummy pumpkin butter for a cold winter's night.

Pumpkin Butter in the Jar-O

The recipe I used for this yummy stuff is below.

3 c pumpkin puree
3 c brown sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon or 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

Mash everything together and put in a covered crock pot on low. Do not uncover for 1 hour. Next, uncover and continue the simmer for 2 more hours. Put into hot clean jars and put into a hot water bath for 25-30 minutes making sure you have 1 inch of water over the top of the jars. (When I used my water bath canner, I just turn it off when time is up and leave the jars in the canner overnight.) You should end up with about 2 pints of butter plus a partial jar to eat right away.

Here is the recipe/instructional I got my base recipe from and it also has good directions on the actual canning process.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Pumpkin-Butter/?ALLSTEPS

And now here is the disclaimer. Many sites talk about the dangers of botulism due to the low acid content of pumpkin. One of the reasons I chose this recipe was because it used a fairly large amount of lemon juice which along with the sugar, raised the acidity.  As always, when canning anything,  be ultra clean and careful. If you are concerned about the acidity of this butter, the finished product can be refrigerated for several weeks or frozen for several months.

Open Letter to my United States Representative

Dear United States Representative,

Wish I could believe the BS that all of you politicians are spouting, I used to believe in all of you and trust all of you. I don't anymore and I feel like a total idiot for ever being that naive. Congress, the Senate and you Mr Obama, should not be getting paychecks after letting this happen AGAIN! You all fight and bicker like a bunch of little kindergartners. I know if I had your kind of work history and work ethic, I would not only lose my paycheck but my job as well.

Personally, I am sick and tired of seeing the taxpayers being your financial pawns. Our government sends troops to other countries to fight oppression while our government oppresses our hard working citizens right here and for some reason that is okay. This makes me feel like I don't matter at all except to give more and more tax dollars to the government. I am pretty sure that if any company in the private sector handled other people's money the way that the government handles our tax dollars, they would be or are in prison. I KNOW that if I handled money the way the government does, I would be destitute and homeless in a country that could care less.

Washington DC, grow up and run this country like you were hired by the taxpayers to do!

Sincerely,

One of many taxpayers who pays your salary

Beautiful Fall Day

It is a beautiful fall day here in Southern Minnesota and a great day for a drive. Met up with family and friends in the big town of Cleveland, Minnesota. Lo and behold there was a little Hey by George pumpkin patch set up at the one and only local convenience store and gas station.

They had a wide variety of pumpkins and gourds, some of which I had never seen before. There were also books about Hey by George and home grown popcorn, corn shocks and straw bales.

Since I live in an apartment, the corn shocks and straw bales are pretty much out. I did get some of the home grown popcorn, a couple of gourds and another pumpkin. We love popcorn and the gourds were just too cool to pass up, at least I limited myself to 2 of them. Just had to have another pumpkin too. After all, you pretty much need a pumpkin for carving and a pumpkin for eating... right? All these treasures for under $15, not a bad deal at all.

Thinking the eating pumpkin is going to turn into pumpkin butter. Will let you know how that turns out. By then I will have had a chance to try the popcorn too.

Closing with a picture of my treasures from the farm and the pumpkin patch.