In Good Taste #65: Pumpkin Pickle
What to do with your pumpkin scrapings; general spookiness; alternative lanterns
Well, hello there! How are you?
Good I hope.
Technically I am not here. Like a ghost. Spooky!
(Not actually spooky. It is half term. James and I have let our house on AirBnB and are having a few days in Liverpool and a few days with his parents in Yorkshire.)
Either way I am keeping this visitation reasonably brief. But Happy Halloween!
I don’t want to come over all Binmenist but does anyone else remember carving turnips rather than pumpkins? My earliest Halloween memory (I guess I would have been about five?) is of carrying around a turnip that had been turned into a lantern with the addition of a handle made of a bent coathanger. I am not in any way trying to imply that that (good old British) turnips were “proper” Halloween and (upstart American import) pumpkins are to be spurned. Turnips are really hard work to carve. I can’t imagine it was actually me that did it. More likely it was Michelle, the young woman who looked after me and me and my brother during our early childhood in Newcastle.
Obviously we weren’t allowed to go trick or treating as that was during peak “razor blades in apples” scare time. The past isn’t always better. But I wood say there was definitely something spookier about a more makeshift, less commercialised Halloween.
Whichever type you prefer I bring you a reminder that you don’t need to carve a pumpkin. Other vegetables are available. Personally I like peppers which come ready hollowed and in a variety of colours (use a birthday cake candle inside).
Aubergines are good too as they are soft and easy to scoop. Also they are pre-dressed in gothy black.
If you do carve a pumpkin then maybe try something other than soup with the scooped out innards. Most pumpkins make terrible soup. They are grown for size and are thus watery and bland. If you do have pumpkin carvings that need eating I would suggest roasting to drive off as much water as mossible then mashing with plenty of butter and black pepper.
If you can find a pumpkin that actually has some flavour then by all means go the soup route. Or try today’s pickle recipe which would also work well with butternut squash. There will be all sorts of unwanted gourds in the shops tomorrow, vegetables that didn’t get to fulfill their halloween destiny but could be given a better fate by being eaten.
Recipe: Pumpkin or Squash Pickle
This works best with a pumpkin or squash that has some sweetness to it. The texture is like a chutney so it lends itself well to the scrapings from inside a carved lantern
Ingredients
600g (approx) pumpkin or squash
1 onion, diced
70g raisins or sultanas
2 cloves garlic, minced, crushed or grated
1 thumb-size piece of ginger, minced, crushed or grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
flaky sea salt
Method
Chop or grate the pumpkin or squash. If your pumpkin or squash is scrapings from a Halloween lantern then roughly chop to create small (1cm-ish) pieces. If you’re starting from scratch then peel, de-seed and grate your vegetable.
Add the other ingredients and weigh. Put a large bowl on a scale and add the pumpkin or squash, onion, raisins or sultanas, garlic and chilli. Weigh everything together.
Add the salt. Calculate 2% of the total weight and add this much flaky sea salt. Toss to distribute it evenly and leave for 30 mins or so.
Pack into a jar. Top with weight or offcuts to make sure everything is submerged in brine.
Leave to ferment. Leave at room temperature, burping and tasting regularly, until the pickle is tangy but still retains sweetness. About a week. Then transfer to the fridge.
Notes (If Ifs And Ands Were Pots And Pans…)
Use any spices you fancy. If the squash lacks sweetness a grated apple would be a good addition.
This is really good with a cheeseboard. Particularly a good strong Cheddar or a creamy Wensleydale (shades of that popular M&S sandwich with carrot chutney).
Alternatively add your pumpkin or squash to a kraut, equal parts cabbage to grated/finely chopped flesh along with whatever spices you fancy (caraway would be nice I think).
Bye! See you next week!
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That goth aubergine is SUCH A VIBE! 😂