canned pumpkin?

[Cullens_Girl]

I see recipes for it, but everywhere I'm reading that USDA recommends against canning pumpkin. I have the freezer space, so its not a big deal, but I was wondering why they recommend not canning and if any of you do it anyway? There are a few blogs where people share the recipe and the add that the USDA recommends against it.

[Carolyn R]

My dh, who does most of our canning, did tons of searching on canning pumpkin. What he found out is you cannot can pumpkin puree; the heat doesn't transfer consistently enough to assure safety.

You are able to can pumpkin chunks, however. He cuts the pumpkins open, scrapes the inside out, peels the outer skin off with a veggie peeler, cuts it into approx. 3/4 inch cubes, blanches it, packs it in pint jars, and pressure cans it.

When I want to make a pie or whatever, I simply drain the water off and then puree the canned chunks. Works beautifully.

If you are interested in more specific directions, I can ask dh if he has a link to the info he finally found.

Hope that helps!

[HeatherAtHome]

I'm just storing my pumpkins whole in the pantry. I'll check them now and then but they should last a while and it's low cost/low effort.

[Cullens_Girl]

thanks everyone for the info. My husband did a ton of research and the final consensus was that were going to freeze most of it - much of which we were going to premix for pies and all that. (we have a great pie recipe we use exclusively.

The rest I'll freeze plain for breads and muffin recipes.

[Linzie2]

I bake and puree mine, then freeze them in little one or two cup containers. Then I can pull them out for pancakes, bread, pie, whatever!

[shaywyn]

My mother always froze the puree, usually in plastic bags. She did a lot of canning but I never even wondered why she didn't can the pumpkin. Now I know, lol!