Friday 8 October 2010

Pumpkins

Posted by Rosie

Warm, dry weather is forecast for the next few days, the perfect time to harvest the pumpkins. I must admit I was very unsure how the harvest would be; a cold dry spring meant they were slow to germinate and what followed was a hot dry summer - not altogether conducive for a water hungry plant that needs a long growing season. However they had been planted on the most humus rich part of the veg patch and they were the one plant outside of the polytunnel that regularly got watered through the dry period. Would this have been enough?










Apparently so :-)


Luckily we are very fond of pumpkin in this household - the small ones baked in the microwave make a perfect lunch and the bigger ones get turned into any number of sweet and savoury dishes plus (now I have found the recipe) pumpkin curd. They keep well in a frost free location, without having to be frozen or otherwise processed and they look lovely.
I'll be interested to see what the long green ones are like as they are a new variety this year. They are, not unsurprisingly called Nice Long. My only worry is that the details say they should turn a red colour when mature where-as mine are still green which may cause a problem storing them if they are not fully mature. Time will tell.

Pumpkin pie anyone?

And as requested by Sue:

Pumpkin Curd

1Kg pumpkin (weighed before peeling)
500g sugar
100g butter
2 lemons

1. Cut the pumpkin into small chunks, add to a large pan, just cover with water and simmer for 15-20mins (adding more water if needed to stop it sticking) until tender.

2. Drain, saving the water for soup etc.

3. Liquidise or sieve the pulp.

4. Add the sugar, butter and grated lemon rind plus juice.

5. Stir well to mix, bring to the boil and cook for 5 mins stirring all the time.

6. Cool slightly then pour into sterilised jars. Seal and label.

7. Store in a cool place and in the fridge once opened.

8 comments :

  1. Can you post the recipe for pumpkin curd please. Is it like lemon curd?
    Sopunds very interesting
    Sue

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  2. Ooohh, the little ones sound interesting. Would you maybe like to swap some seed with the Boston Squash I've grown? Poppy x

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  3. Poppy - the only trouble with seed collecting is that pumpkins cross-pollinate with each other and other courgettes/marrows etc and so do not breed true. However I'd be happy to send you some spare seeds when I buy them next year. I'll stick a note in my seed box!!

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  4. Wow! They look fabulous! What varieties? Particularly the big orange on the right.

    I'm just raising seedlings as it's Spring here, several types this year - Musque du Provence, Peekaboo, Delicata, Mischief, Queensland Blue and Turks Head!

    The curd recipe looks interesting, thanks for sharing.

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  5. The big orange ones are Potiron rouge vif d'Etamps, the little orange ones are Jack be Little and the few orange and white stripped ones are Hooligan. I also sowed Baby Boo but as these are small white pumpkins I can only assume they died. I also have a few odd shaped orange ones that are either another variety I've forgotten or mutant Jack be Littles! The butternuts are a variety called Sprinter which seems to do really well here and the big green ones are Nice Long!

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  6. I'd be interested to hear how the Rouge vif d'Etamps taste as I've read they are better for decoration than eating! But maybe that's an unfair description.

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