4 cups prepared pumpkin pulp
2 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon*
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup orange juice
*note spices can be adjusted as necessary, and I like a bit of ginger
Wash pumpkin**, but into large pieces, scrape out and discard seeds. Place pieces in a large saucepan, cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Drain.
NOTE:
I bake rather than boil, but you can do this either way, just make sure the pulp is not runny.
Remove rind, measure 4 cups of pulp. In a food processor, combine pulp with brown sugar and all other ingredients. Cook this in a nonreactive pan by bringing to a boil, reducing heat and boiling gently until thick, about 20 minutes. Ladle into pint or half-pints, then process for 10 minutes in BWB.
**If I can’t get a real cooking pumpkin, I use a hubbard squash called Sweet Meat. In the fall, the Sweet Meats are up around 20 pounds, so I bake the entire thing and measure into zip-lock bags. As this squash is not stringy, I do not have to run the pulp through a food mill, just mash and measure. Use quart zips for a pie or two and gallon for making butters/soups later.