The Rural Voice, 2000-10, Page 41pumpkins, Grandmother set about
drying off and roasting the seeds.
Grandpa's jack-o'-lanterns always
wore scary faces while I'd do mine
up in toothless smiles.
By the time we finished, the
kitchen would be filled with a warm
nutty aroma. Grandmother would
powder some salt in her pestle and
mortar and sprinkle it over the
roasted seeds. Paired up with a mug
of spicy, hot cider, "pumpkin nuts"
were one of my favourite autumn
treats.
Come Halloween night when the
back porch was lit by our two
carefully carved jack-o'-lanterns,
Grandpa and I took as much pride in
the pumpkin patch offerings as
Grandmother did.
After our two special pumpkins
had been put to good use,
Grandmother would harvest the
remaining heads when "the time was
right." This meant somewhere
between nippy nights and early frost.
The "greener" ones from shady
corners of the patch would
make their way to the root
cellar for fresh use over the winter
months. These were the best `savers',
according to Grandmother, as they
would get a chance to ripen slowly on
their own. Root cellar pumpkins
would enliven winter meals by
making their way into creamy
nutmeg scented pies, moist quick
breads, thick soups or smothered in
garlic butter and baked in squash
fashion.
Grandmother had recipes ranging
from dried sugar coated pumpkin
rings to spicy pumpkin relish that
made her fresh roast of pork a dish
well worth mentioning. We ate
pumpkins that masqueraded as fruit
in puddings, cakes and cookies. We
also indulged in pumpkins that were
disguised as vegetables, dressing up
stews and pot pies.
And from every pumpkin used, the
seeds were saved for roasting. All
winter long, the pantry offered a tin
of salty roasted pumpkin nuts. These
were readily available when snacks
were called for during evening games
of Chinese Checkers or as a recess
pocket treat for toting to school.
Then, of course, there was a very
special sack full of seeds that were
hand selected by Grandmother which
got stored away as the next season's
Pick an extra
pumpkin for
dinner.
"planters".
I still have a special fondness for
pumpkins and although my backyard
garden is nowhere near the one my
grandparents' farm proudly boasted, I
always make room for at least a
couple of pumpkin plants in my tiny
patch. And using Grandmother's
carefully preserved recipes, I still
enjoy pumpkins today as much as I
did way back when I was a girl.
I'd like to share a few of
Grandmother's recipes with you. I
have copied them from her old
scribblers just as she had jotted them
down — in the way of the day.
ROASTED PUMPKIN
Slice pumpkin into wedges and
place on baking sheet. Spread with
fat (Grandmother rendered down
pork fat for use in all her baking and
cooking recipes) or butter and
sprinkle with some salt, pepper and
chopped garlic, if you like. Bake in
hot oven until tender. This is very
good with cheese melted on top.
Spoon off and eat right down to the
rind.
PUMPKIN NUTS
(Roasted pumpkin seeds)
Remove string and pulp from
seeds. Dry off well. Grease baking
sheet with fat or oil. Spread seeds one
layer thick. Get the fire cracking hot
(of course, she was using a wood
stove!) Preheat oven to 375°F. and
roast until light golden. Powder some
salt and sprinkle while hot. When
cold, store in tightly covered tin.
WILL'S FAVOURITE PUMPKIN
COOKIES
(Grandpa and I just loved these
cookies and could hardly wait for
them to get out of the oven. The
recipe states that they save very well
but at the rate they get eaten, I doubt
this was ever proven!)
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
a shake each of salt, cinnamon,
nutmeg and cloves
2 eggs
a taste of vanilla (by this
Grandmother would likely mean just
enough to flavour, I have whittled
this down to 2 teaspoonsful),
11/2 cups of fresh cooked, mashed
pumpkin.
You can add some chopped nuts if
you like or some dried berries such as
currants or cranberries. "Will", she
has it written, "likes this cookie done
with chopped dates".
Do up in the manner as you would
any cookie. (She means creaming the
butter first, then adding the moist
ingredients and pumpkin. Then
folding in the dry ingredients, lastly
the nuts or fruit).
Bake until done. (I always giggle
when this shows up in Grandmother's
books. When one bakes in a wood
stove oven such as Grandmother did,
there wasn't a thermometer or timer
so you simply "baked until done",
keeping a close eye upon the oven all
the while.)
After you choose your jack-o'-
lantern this fall, don't forget to pick a
couple of special pumpkins to have
for dinner, too!O
OCTOBER 2000 37