I searched for weeks to find a good recipe for canning pumpkin butter.
We grow pumpkins every year, and I decided I was going to try something new with them. The longer I searched, the more frustrated I became, not because there weren’t any recipes, but no one–and I mean no one– had instructions for canning it. But I was determined.
I decided to proceed, thinking I would spend the cooking time searching and would have a processing time by the time it was finished. You can find anything on the Internet, right? Google, the holder of all knowledge, would come through for me.
Right?!
I cooked the pumpkin in the crockpot.
I got everything ready. Jars, lids, bands, jar lifter, and the canner was boiling.
I pureed the pumpkin in my food processor, and ladled it into hot, half-pint jars and tightened the lids and bands. I lowered them down into the canner, and put the lid on.
Then I wasn’t able to find a processing time.
Another internet search turned up this page– Canning 101: Why Pumpkin Can’t be Canned. ARG! I turned off the burner, removed the jars from the canner, loosened all the lids that had already begun to seal, and let them cool.
Freezer Pumpkin Butter it is!
Crockpot Pumpkin Butter
1 fresh pumpkin (4-6#), washed
1 Tbl. ground cloves
2 Tbl. ground cinnamon (I like less cinnamon than this)
1/2 Tbl. ground allspice
1 Cup brown sugar
Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin/shell from the pumpkin and cut the meat into chunks about 1” square.
Mix the sugar and spices together in a bowl or shaker, and then alternate layering pumpkin chunks and sugar mixture into the crockpot.
You want to use all of it, so don’t skimp! Fill your crockpot to the top with pumpkin.
Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours. You can do this overnight if you like.
Ladle cooked pumpkin into a blender or food processor. An immersion blender is a magical tool to use instead, if you have one. Puree until smooth
Ladle pumpkin butter into small freezer containers. I used half-pint canning jars. Leave 1/2” headspace to allow for expansion during freezing.
Freeze. Stores in the freezer for up to six months, or in the refrigerator for 5 days. If you can keep it in the house that long.
And do you know what? This stuff.
Is.
So.
Good.
