October is the unofficial month of the pumpkin. Today, we enjoy pumpkin most notably in pies and spiced lattes, but pumpkin has been a culinary staple in the Americas for thousands of years.
Pumpkin is native to North America and was first cultivated in 3500 B.C.—making it one of the oldest known crops to be cultivated in the Western Hemisphere, according to the University of Missouri.
In the 1800s, people enjoyed pumpkin in many different ways. From pudding to marmalade to soup, here are nine old-fashioned pumpkin recipes to try this fall.
Recipe #1: Stuffed Squash
This recipe, from a 1839 Kentucky housewife, was made by Ron and Justine Rayfield of the Early American YouTube channel.
“In short: Stuff a halved squash with sausage, put it back together, and bake until tender! Easy peasy,” they share.
Ingredients:
A large squash
Spices to taste: salt, pepper, clove, paprika, rosemary, sage & thyme
Ground sausage, enough to fill the squash
Instructions:
“Choose a fine, ripe squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and scrape the inside clean. Fill the squash with fresh sausage meat, seasoned to your taste. I seasoned mine with salt, pepper, clove, paprika, rosemary, sage & thyme. Put the two halves back together and place the squash in a deep baking dish. Bake in a moderate oven (about 350°F) until the squash is very tender and the sausage is fully cooked, or about 45–60 minutes, depending on size. Serve the squash in the same dish in which it was baked.”
Recipe #2: Pumpkin Cakes (Pumpkin Cornbread)
This is another 1839 recipe from a Kentucky Housewife made by the Rayfields of Early American.
Ingredients:
1 pint (2 cups) cooked pumpkin, very well mashed
1 quart (4 cups) fine cornmeal
1 small dessert spoon salt — about 1½–2 teaspoons
2 large spoonfuls butter — about 2 tablespoons
2 eggs, beaten
About 1½–2 cups whole milk, or enough to make a thick batter
Additional butter for greasing the baking sheet
Instructions:
“Cook the pumpkin: Stew or boil a sweet pumpkin until completely tender. Drain it well.
Puree the pumpkin: Mash 2 cups of cooked pumpkin very thoroughly, then push it through a fine sieve. This would have produced a smooth pumpkin puree in 1839.
Make the batter: Combine the pumpkin with 4 cups fine cornmeal. Add the salt and melted butter.
Add the eggs: Beat 2 eggs and mix them into the pumpkin-cornmeal mixture.
Add the milk: Gradually add enough sweet milk to produce a thick, spoonable batter. I would start with about 1½ cups and add more only if necessary.
Form the cakes: Generously butter a baking sheet. Drop the batter onto it by large spoonfuls, making individual little cakes.
Bake: Bake in a brisk oven, which I would interpret as approximately 400 degrees (200 c), until the cakes are firm and cooked through, probably around 10-15 minutes, depending on their size.”
Recipe #3: Stewed Pumpkin
This pumpkin side dish recipe comes from Eliza Leslie’s 1857 cookbook, Miss Leslie’s New Cookery Book. (The stewed pumpkin can be used in the following two pumpkin pudding recipes.)
Instructions:
“No pumpkin is too large to be good, but they may be too old. Cut a good deep-colored pumpkin in half, and empty out all the seeds. Then cut it into pieces, and pare them. Put the pieces of pumpkin into a pot with barely sufficient water to keep them from burning. When they are thoroughly done or soft all through, take them up; drain, mash, and press them through a cullender. They must be very dry. Put the stewed pumpkin into a dish, and mix it with a small portion of butter. Season it with black pepper, and eat it with boiled corned beef, or corned pork, or bacon.”
Recipe #4: Rosewater-and-Wine Pumpkin Pudding
This crustless pumpkin sweet comes from Eliza Leslie’s 1853 cookbook, Complete Cookery. (Use Stewed Pumpkin recipe above.)
Instructions:
“Take a pint of pumpkin that has been stewed soft, and pressed through a cullender. Melt in half a pint of warm milk, a quarter of a pound of butter, and the same quantity of sugar, stirring them well together. If you can conveniently procure a pint of rich cream it will be better than the milk and butter. Beat eight eggs very light, and add them gradually to the other ingredients, alternately with the pumpkin. Then stir in a wine glass of rose water and a glass of wine mixed together; a large tea-spoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon mixed, and a grated nutmeg. Having stirred the whole very hard, put it into a buttered dish and bake it three quarters of an hour. Eat it cold.”
Recipe #5: Yankee Pumpkin Pudding
This crustless pumpkin pudding is a more classic take on a sweet pumpkin dessert, taken from Eliza Leslie’s 1857 cookbook New Cookery Book. (Use Stewed Pumpkin recipe above.)
Instructions:
“Take a pint of stewed pumpkin. Mix together a pint of West India molasses and a pint of milk, adding two large table-spoonfuls of brown sugar, and two table-spoonfuls of ground ginger. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them, gradually, into the milk and molasses. Then, by degrees, stir in the stewed pumpkin. Put it into a deep dish, and bake it without a crust. This is a good farm-house pudding, and equally good for any healthy children. For a large family, double the quantities of ingredients—that is, take a quart of milk, a quart of molasses, four spoonfuls of brown sugar, four spoonfuls of ginger, six eggs, and a quart of stewed pumpkin. You had best have at hand more than a quart of pumpkin, lest when mixed it should not hold out. This pudding is excellent made of winter squash.”
Recipe #6: Pumpkin Marmalade
Spread this yummy pumpkin marmalade on your morning toast. This recipe also comes from Eliza Leslie’s 1857 cookbook, New Cookery Book.
Instructions:
“Take a fine ripe high-colored pumpkin. Cut it up. Empty it very clean of the seeds and strings; take off a thick paring. Slice the pieces small and thin, and weigh them. To each pound of pumpkin allow a pound of powdered sugar, and the grated peel and the juice of one large lemon. Pumpkin sweetmeats require a high lemon flavoring. Boil the pumpkin alone, till quite soft. Then mash it in a cullender till the water is pressed out, and the pumpkin left dry. Afterwards put it into a porcelain kettle, mix with it the sugar and lemon, and boil it again till it becomes a thick jam.”
Recipe #7: Pumpkin Soup
This yummy, hearty pumpkin soup recipe comes from A.G. Payne’s 1891 cookbook, Cassell’s Vegetarian Cookery.
Instructions:
“Take half or a quarter of a moderate-sized pumpkin, pare it, remove the seeds, and cut the pumpkin into thin slices. Put these into a stew-pan, with as much water or milk as will cover them, and boil gently until they are reduced to a pulp. Rub this through a fine sieve, mix with it a little salt, and a piece of butter the size of an egg, and stir it over the fire until it boils. Thin it with some boiling milk which has been sweetened and flavoured with lemon-rind, cinnamon, or orange-flower water. It should be of the consistency of thick cream. Put toasted bread, cut into the size of dice, at the bottom of the soup-tureen. Moisten the bread-dice with a small quantity of the liquor, let them soak a little while, then pour the rest of the soup over them, and serve very hot. Or whisk two fresh eggs thoroughly in the tureen, and pour the soup in over them at the last moment. The liquor ought to have ceased from boiling for a minute or two before it is poured over the eggs.”
Recipe #8: Pumpkin à la Parmesane
This Italian-style savory pumpkin recipe also comes from A.G. Payne’s 1891 cookbook, Cassell’s Vegetarian Cookery.
Instructions:
“Cut a large pumpkin into square pieces and boil them for about a quarter of an hour in salt and water, and take them out, drain them, and put them in a stew-pan with a little butter, salt, and grated nutmeg; fry them, sprinkle them with a little Parmesan cheese, and bake them for a short time in the oven till the cheese begins to melt, and then serve. This is an Italian recipe.”
Recipe #9: Zucchetti Farcis
This French-style pumpkin recipe incorporates almonds and eggs, taken from A.G. Payne’s 1891 cookbook, Cassell’s Vegetarian Cookery.
Instructions:
“Take some very small gourds or pumpkins, boil them for about a quarter of an hour in salt and water, and then fill them with a forcemeat made as follows: Take some crumb of bread and soak it in milk, squeeze it and add the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs and two raw yolks; chop up very finely half a dozen blanched almonds with a couple of cloves; add two ounces of grated Parmesan cheese, and a little salt and grated nutmeg. Stew these gourds in butter and serve them with white sauce.”
Enjoy your autumn with these cozy pumpkin recipes!
