Friday, October 10, 2008

Pumpkin Jam

Well, as a lot of you know, my DD hi-jacked my blog to tell you about my pumpkin jam. Yes, it was a success, so much so that I made a second batch of it today. Some of you have asked for the recipe and so, I will post here now.

Pumpkin Jam

About 8 pounds of peeled, seeds taken out, and finely diced pumpkin
3 finely diced oranges
3 finely diced lemons

Mix one-to-one cups of pumpkin and white sugar in a large bowl or pot. Leave overnight and it will create a fair amount of juice. The next day, drain the sugared juice in a large pot and boil down until you can form a string like drip from a spoon when tested. It is very syrupy. You then add the pumpkin, orange, lemon pieces to the pot and cook until the pumpkin becomes transparent. When that happens, you bottle it, cover and seal. I did mine in mason jars, and they will pop in when they seal.

As Cathey mentioned, it is very much like marmalade but I do love it. If you have difficulty and have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

This has been a very busy day for me. It took all morning to make my jam, and then the clean-up. In between that, I had three loads of wash and did my ironing as well.

Since we have done the renovations on our home, we had to place our bird feeders outside our front room windows, which happens to be the second storey on our home. The basement is finished and that has our master bedroom, my quilting room, a full bath and a laundry room. The top storey has the livingroom on the front of the house looking onto the lake. As I started to day, our bird feeders are nice and high and we thought that our squirrels would not be able to reach them. WRONG!!! They have found them, so I am constantly on guard for that as well. Those little monkeys know now the sound of the window opening and take off for a while, but do come back as soon as my back is turned. The hardships of living in the wilds. LOL

Have a Great Day and Good Luck with the Jam!

6 comments:

Kathy said...

Ah, yes, I know a good deal about squirrels - the little devils! I too feed the birds and try not to feed the squirrels. I have found a weight-triggered feeder that (so far) the squirrels haven't figured out. Each spring the young 'uns jump onto the top of the feeder and look very puzzled when they either slide off or end up on the feeder ledge, which has closed off access to the seeds. I have another feeder filled with safflower seeds, which supposedly squirrels don't like. Someone forgot to tell one or two of my squirrels about that dislike. They will empty that feeder in an hour, if I'm not home to chase them away. And, of course they always return when I'm not looking.
Good luck with chasing yours away.

Pumpkin said...

LOL! SURPRISE!

Listen, that is one of THE best jams/marmalades that I have had :o) DH dipped into it and I was NOT happy. I might have to get a few more jars when I see you this weekend ;o)

Suzanne said...

The jam sounds wonderful! Since I am not as, um, "experienced" in the kitchen as some, I do have a question: When you get ready to put it in jars, do you just use clean Mason jars and then screw the lid on or do you have to boil something or seal something with wax? I remember watching my mother make cranberry sauce and having to use sealing wax for something...Could you please let me know, or let Cathey know and she can get a message to me? I would appreciate it so much!

Suzanne
suzanne815@comcast.net

Irene said...

Thanks for sharing the receipe. I'm hoping to give it a try. I had to give up feeding the birds around here as the squirrels took over. One year they got into the roof.

Kate North said...

don't get me started on squirrels! Just wanted to pop by and say thanks for visiting my blog so often & commenting. I'm not ignoring your comments, but as you are set to not show your email address, I can't reply directly :)

Alberta said...

Mumzy...my first time stopping by your blog and I love the Pumpkin Jam recipe. Got it all copied out...now to get the perfect pumpkin!

Love your quilts...I'll be adding you to my list of favorite bloggers to visit!