I had bought some blaze pumpkins as Hallowe’en decorations – I had first checked that they would be edible, as I don’t like to waste food. And they are, but I couldn’t find anything good to make with them as they aren’t really as pumpkin-y as the pie pumpkins in my garden. After some searching, I came up with a fresh pumpkin marmalade recipe which I thought might work. And it did – yummy. The delicacy of the pumpkin flavour goes well with the citrus. This marmalade isn’t going to last forever as it doesn’t really preserve like a jam, but seems to be doing fine for a month or so in the fridge. And because of that, it has a lovely fresh taste. Yummy now that winter is almost here.
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked pumpkin
- 1 small orange: slice half the orange as thinly as possible, seeds removed
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- pinch of salt
- whole cloves (one per jar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions for cooking the pumpkin
- Whack off the stem with a hammer. Just give it a good whack.
- Cut it in half and clean out the seeds and the stringy stuff (save the seeds to make baked pumpkin seeds if you like that.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and place the pumpkin face down on it. Prick the skin with a fork all over (no one wants anexploded pumpkin in the oven).
- Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until soft.
- When it is cool, scrape the pumpkin from the skin. I like to put it in a bowl and blend it with an emersion blender. You can also put it in a regular blender, or just mash it with a potato masher. Any extra I freeze it in Ziplock freezer bags, one cup per bag.
Directions for making the marmalade
Directions
- Wash the orange, and slice half the orange as thinly as possible. Cut these slices into small pieces.
- Put the pumpkin, sugar, salt, lemon juice and orange slices in a heavy-duty saucepan. Add vanilla to the pot.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until sugar is completely dissolved. Be sure to keep stirring to prevent the mixture from burning. Continue cooking until the mixture is thick and has the consistency of jam or a preserve. It should be thick and jelly-like, not runny. It should take 10-15 minutes. Place a clove in the bottom of each of clean, dry jar, then fill with the pumpkin marmalade. Close the jar lids tight. When completely cool, store them in the fridge for up to 2 months.