Plentiful Pumpkin Butter

Good morning Jammers, hope you all slept well. I am LOVING this weather. I think I will head outside tomorrow and give the grass one final mow for the season then put the mower to bed for the winter. Maybe I’ll find a beach towel to cover it with, in the shed, kind of like a blanket for it to sleep with for the few cold months that we get. I want it to be happy when we pull it out in the spring. We just bought it earlier this year, so it‘s still new to us. I guess you could say, we take good care of what we have around here, which is something else I learned from Mabert. Things last so much longer if you really take good care of them. On that note, I have noticed that the rack inside the new canner is already becoming discolored (it is metal). It looks like oxidation and is blackening and almost rusty is some spots…I wonder if it’s the vinegar that I am adding to the water? I dry it out each time. The canner itself is coated and it looks brand new, still. So, any thoughts from my scientific readers? Suggestions, tips?

One of my favorite jams is actually a butter, pumpkin butter. Butters do not have actual butter in them (other than the ½ teaspoon that I add to every batch I make to help the foam issue) but instead the term refers to a texture that is achieved by cooking it a long time. Lots of recipes I have seen use a slow cooker to cooking them in. When I decided to start this journey down the canning road, I checked out tons of books from the library and copied and compiled all the recipes that I wanted to try out. One thing I noticed that was missing from most of those books was pumpkin butter. It did appear in some of the older books, but not in the newer ones. So I turned to the web for some research, my normal response to any question I have, anymore. There are plenty of recipes out there on the web but I also found why it is not listed in the books. Apparently, the USDA changed it’s recommendations on canning mashed or pureed pumpkin (and winter squash) back in the late 80’s and revised them in the early 90’s. Now they do not recommend it at all, due to the varying viscosity, acid levels and water activity in each individual batch. Pumpkin and squash are low acid foods and are capable of supporting the growth of Clostridium botulinum bacteria, which can cause botulism, if not carefully stored. Hummm, debates are all over the web about this topic and apparently have been for years. I would never want to make anyone sick so I thought my solution was pretty smart…I’ll use canned pumpkin! I checked the label and it said it was pasteurized so that should help. I did find a recipe that calls for canned pumpkin and it was the easiest and fastest of any of the recipes I have done so far and WOW, it tastes great too. Perfect, just like I remember it.

Remember, when crafting anything in your kitchen, to properly focus your thoughts and intentions and infuse your creation. Light a candle, get in the mood and REALLY want to be making whatever it may be, at that time. Trust me, no one will want to eat it if you didn’t want to make it! Yucko. Now, the properties of pumpkins include fertility, abundance and being plentiful and lighting a Jack-O-Lantern on All Hallows Eve is said to bring luck to your home. They symbolize harvest and bounty, bringing to mind the fall season and Thanksgiving. They remind me to be thankful for everything I have and everything I am. The spices in this butter all carry many properties but I focus (for this recipe) on the cinnamon for spirituality, power and healing. The nutmeg for health and fidelity and the ginger for power and success. I like burning an autumn spice candle on my prep board while working with pumpkin but a vanilla one will do, in a pinch. My patron Goddess of my hearth is always thanked and acknowledged with the quick anointing of my wrists with pure vanilla or I have some perfume-oil that is vanilla. My son LOVES the smell and many times I will find him right beside me for this part. His grin goes from ear-to-ear just sniffing vanilla and his eyes will almost roll back in his head…he almost gets dizzy looking. I blessed my jars of this yummy butter with abundance, among other things, and am calling this my Plentiful Pumpkin Butter. May your cupboards never be bare and you always have plenty of NOT what you want but plenty of just what you need!
　

Plentiful Pumpkin Butter 

3 ½ cups canned solid pack pumpkin

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

4 cups sugar

1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter

1 3oz pouch liquid pectin

Preheat canner and prepare jars and lids. In an 8qt pan combine the pumpkin and spices, stirring until smooth and well blended. Gradually stir in both sugars and the butter. Over medium-low heat, heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugars are dissolved. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a full rolling boil, still stirring constantly. Stir in contents of pectin pouch and return to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring all-the-while.

Remove pan from heat and quickly skim off any foam (mine did not have any) from the top. Ladle the butter into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and add the lids and rings, turning the rings until just finger-tight. Place the jars in the preheated canner and bring canner to a full rolling boil. Process jars for 10 minutes (adjusting according to your altitude, if necessary) then remove canner from heat. Let canner sit for 5 minutes, then, carefully remove hot jars from water with a jar lifter and place them on a towel on the counter and leave them undisturbed until the seals have popped and the jars are cooled. Store them in the refrigerator use within 4 months.

Makes about 7 half pint jars.

This came out FABULOUS! Perfect texture and blend of spices. The color is beautiful…now, MY pictures do not do it justice. The one thing I am beginning to see is that I need a better camera for photographing my shots. I need to work with better lighting, too. The flash is too bright and if the flash is off, they are fuzzy looking. Now, I have to learn to be a photographer to be a writer…go figure!

I’m considering some of the debates that I saw about the safety of canning pureed pumpkin and one thing that all, pretty much, agreed on was that you CAN make it. It just has to be kept refrigerated (or frozen) and used within a few months. This sounds like a good recommendation, to me, so I made it part of my recipe.

Another consideration I’m giving is hosting a giveaway. I’ve seen other bloggers doing this and it seems to be a real hit. I was contacted today by the company that does it, thanks to a new co-blogger friend, Andrea (a big shout-out to her, of http://andrea-thekitchenwitch.blogspot.com/ ). I will post the details as soon as I make a decision. Do any of you have any experiences with hosting or winning a blog giveaway? I’d love some feedback. Email me if you want or post your feedback to the Facebook page.

Ok, keep your eyes open and check back often. I still have the apple butter to post and I spent today trying 2 new batches, lavender (wait till you see the color on this) jelly and raspberry lavender jam. I’ll be busy typing them out over the next few days. I swear, this is like an addiction for me…I can’t stop! I found a recipe online for beer jam (yes, dark beer) posted at justgotcanned.com that I want to modify and try. I think the guys may like it, maybe a Guinness? Seasoned with citrus, cinnamon and cardamom. Head over there to check it out and I will post my version after I make it. What a collection it will make…sangria jam, Riesling jam, white zin jam and beer jam…what’s next, I ask?

Apple butter will be posted next, so, till then, remember to Be Blessed and Be Sweet!
　

Spicy Yogi Blueberry Jam

Good rainy evening, Jammers! I am loving listening to the rain on the sun room roof this evening. We have been so dry this month, it’s like music to my ears. My poor basil was about to call it quits on me…I couldn‘t keep up with watering what with everything else going on around here lately. I guess we should be ready for a pretty wet few days with the storm system that is headed our way from the Caribbean. She should be called Tropical Storm Nicole sometime tomorrow. No need to worry, it will pass us to the east and will be a weak storm so just plenty (hopefully) of rain. We will definitely head out to the beach on Thursday to watch the surf and look for shells when the tide is out. We find great shells when there are storms out at sea, I can‘t wait.

Well, I made a new batch of jam today. I put a poll question on the blog last week so that you, my loyal and faithful readers, could choose what I made next. So, after double checking the results, I pulled out my recipe and whipped out a batch of Spiced Blueberry Honey Jam. Now before I get to the recipe, I wanted to share a bit about the outcome, yes, I know I am jumping the gun, but I was worried about my seals. Usually, on all the other batches I have made so far, the lids will start popping (sealing) within just a few minutes of removing them from the canner and have usually all sealed within 15 minutes, or so. Well today, only 1 out of 6 popped right away. I began to worry, but remembered that I had read to be patient while they cool and that it could take up to 24 hours. I guess this is why you are supposed to leave them undisturbed for that 24 hours…it takes them a while to “do their thing“. This batch took hours, for some reason. The last jar popped almost 5 hours after the lid was applied. Any ideas on why it took so long compared to the others?

I took a picture of my pots this time so you could see what I meant by my “tall” canner that I am using. Remember, it’s the pot from my turkey fryer. The other is my 8 qt. stockpot that I use for cooking the actual jams in.



Now, I did my research prior to making my jam this afternoon and found that blueberries are associated with peace, calmness and protection. I also saw references on quite a few websites that they are good for your kidneys, too. Okay, it's good to know, huh? Do further research if you are interested in this aspect as I am NOT qualified to give any medical advice. Honey is associated with happiness and fulfillment while nutmeg is associated with promoting health and fidelity. In some countries people carried a whole nutmeg in their pocket to attract good fortune. When I visualize these attributes, I am seeing the peace, calm, fulfillment and good health and this slowly manifests itself in my mind as a room full of yoga enthusiasts…do ya see it too? Based on this I am going to rename this one Spicy Yogi Blueberry Jam.

Spicy Yogi Blueberry Jam

2 ½ cups fresh or frozen coarsely chopped blueberries (I used frozen)

2 ½ cups sugar

1 cup liquid honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter

1 3oz pouch liquid pectin

　
Preheat canner and prepare jars and lids. In an 8 qt pan combine the blueberries, sugar, honey, lemon juice, nutmeg and butter. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly, and boil hard for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the pectin. Skim off any foam. To prevent the jam from separating in the jars, allow the jam to cool 5 minutes before filling the jars. Gently stir the jam every minute, or so, to distribute the fruit. Ladle the jam into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and add the lids and rings, turning the rings until just finger-tight. Place the jars in the preheated canner and bring canner to a full rolling boil. Process jars for 10 minutes (adjusting according to your altitude, if necessary) then remove canner from heat. Let canner sit for 5 minutes, then, carefully remove hot jars from water with a jar lifter and place them on a towel on the counter and leave them undisturbed for 24 hours. Check the seals before storing and use within 12 months.

Makes about 6 half pint jars.

This jam is gorgeous in the jar and is perfectly spicy and not too overly sweet. I think you will really love it, I did! I have to debate keeping a jar in the fridge. I have a jar of everything I have done so far in the fridge right now and well, lets just say I’m gonna have to find more uses for them, quick! Ooooh, I just remembered 6^th grade home-economics class, we did little jam filled refrigerator biscuits sprinkled with powdered sugar. They were like little crescent shaped pies. Maybe next time the girls get together I will make them and call them my “special little moon pies”. This jam would be PERFECT, kind of like a little blueberry pie.

Okay, I have 2 more batches coming up for next week. Both are peach based and I may try to get more peaches and do another 2 after that. I have 4 or 5 recipes that I really want to try and peach has been the most popular and requested one from my original batches to date. It’s coming up on the end of the peach harvests for a while so I need to stock up. Basic Peach and Peach Lavender to start then Peach Butter and Peach Melba (peaches and raspberries) for the next time.

Have a great hump day and remember, Be Blessed and Be Sweet!