Homestead mailing list

[SJC <indexer AT localnet.com>]

Lisa K.V. Perry wrote:
> ....Bought more quart canning jars and 4x the number of lids today 
> after goingto a nearby pumpkin farm for a hay ride outing with our 
> live-in individual
> and our local group of foster care providers and live-in individuals. Oh, we
> had fun! Four of us attended so we came home with four more big pumpkins (to
> be canned), they were included in the price of admission. Will put my food
> strainer with pumpkin screen to the test in the next few weeks.
>   
Maybe you already know it, but if you screen/mash/otherwise mush your 
pumpkin it then needs to be frozen.  It's considered too dense to safely 
be canned.  I generally can most of mine in chunks, then when I use it, 
drain the chunks and mash, usually with the potato masher, as it's the 
easiest-to-clean mashing tool I have for small batches.  The chunks I 
make the right size for soup/stews and they are ready to go.  I usually 
put up a few jars of shredded pump/squash, and that I drain and use in 
pancakes or breads just like I would zucchini  .The water they were 
canned in goes into the next soup, usually, or saved for later.  
Sometimes if I open several at a time, I boil the water down quite a bit 
and freeze or can that until I need it.

Recently, though, since I'm by myself, I dry more and more things, 
including pumpkin/squash.  Then I vacuum seal the dried product in 
jars.  Not only easier to work in small batches, but takes less juice to 
do it, is easy to rehydrate, and takes  much less storage space.  I'm 
working on getting my living space, including storage, down under 500sf 
:-) .

Susan Jane, in Maine