Pumpkin cream

A preserve. Another recipe from Mason’s Farmhouse Cookery; particularly handy if your pumpkin patch has run wild or your mulch pile has produced volunteers. She places its origin on the south coast of England in Hampshire, Sussex or Kent. It has no cream.

-1 lb peeled and seeded pumpkin (or gunk from a can)
-1 lb sugar
-4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
-juice and zest of a lemon
-zest of ½ orange
-a little salt

1. Cook the pumpkin in just “enough water to cover the base of the pan” (Farmhouse Cookery 80) until the pumpkin softens enough to allow you to mash it, stirring the pot to keep the pumpkin from scorching.
2. Mash it.
3. Stir the other ingredients into the pumpkin until the ‘cream’ thickens, usually about 20 minutes.
4. Either refrigerate the pumpkin cream for immediate use or spoon it into hot sterilized Ball jars that should keep for at least six weeks.

Note:

- You may need to add a little more water during step 1 to keep the pumpkin from scorching but be parsimonious.

- Mason omits salt, but it does deepen the flavor of the preserve.