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Preserved Pumpkin Chips
Late pumpkins are best for this purpose, and in fact the preserves may be made in winter, as pumpkins will keep perfectly well during the year.
Select a fine ripe one, of a deep yellow color, cut it into halves, then into narrow strips, pare off the outer rind and remove the seeds. Now cut the strips into thin shavings, weigh these shavings, and allow to each one pound one pound of granulated sugar. Secure several dozen of nice, ripe lemons, as it will require one gill of lemon juice to each pound of fruit. Pare the lemons and squeeze out the juice. If you use a glass lemon squeezer it is not necessary to pare them. Spread the pumpkin chips on large platters, sprinkle the sugar over them, then the lemon juice; stand in a cool place over night. In the morning put them into a porcelain-lined kettle, and cook slowly for an hour and a quarter, or until the pumpkin becomes tender, crisp and transparent. Stir carefully and cook slowly, as the pieces must not break or lose their form. Skim frequently as the scum comes to the surface. When the chips are done, lift them carefully with a skimmer, and put them in tumblers or jars; strain the syrup through a flannel bag that has been wrung from boiling water, and pour it over the chips. When cold tie up the same as jelly. *
A candied sweetmeat rather than a jam: the pumpkin is meant to come out of the syrup in whole translucent shavings. Everything in the method serves that end.
- The hinge: thin, even shavingsCut the pared strips into shavings of uniform thickness, no more than about 1/8 inch, ideally with a mandoline or a firm vegetable peeler. Uneven pieces cook unevenly, and the thin ones collapse into pulp before the thick ones turn clear.
- A gillA gill is half a cup, 4 fluid ounces. That is roughly the juice of three or four ordinary lemons per pound of pumpkin, so the "several dozen" implies a preserving batch of the order of ten pounds. Scale down freely.
- Choose the right pumpkin"Late pumpkin, deep yellow" means a dense winter squash with dry flesh, not the watery field pumpkin sold for carving. Long Island Cheese, Musquee de Provence, kabocha or butternut all shave well and hold their shape.
- Porcelain-lined kettleThat is enamelled cast iron or steel. Any non-reactive pan will do; avoid bare aluminium or unlined copper, which react with this much lemon juice and can dull the colour.
- Why the overnight stand mattersThe sugar and acid draw water out of the shavings and firm them before heat touches them. Skipping this step gives soft, broken chips. Cover the platters and refrigerate rather than leaving them out.
- The cooking time is realAn hour and a quarter at a bare simmer is not an exaggeration; the chips are done when they look glassy right through. Boiling hard to shorten it will shred them and can caramelise the syrup to a dark colour.
- Flannel bagA scalded jelly bag or a double layer of damp cheesecloth. Straining the syrup while hot keeps it clear; pressing it makes it cloudy.
- Sealing and storage"Tie up the same as jelly" means paper, cloth and often melted paraffin over the top, which is no longer considered a seal. Pack into clean jars, cool, and keep in the refrigerator, or process filled half-pint jars in a boiling-water bath according to current preserving guidance. Do not seal and store at room temperature on the strength of the paper cover alone.
- YieldExpect something on the order of a pint of finished chips and syrup per pound of raw pumpkin and pound of sugar, though the recipe gives no yield. Serve them as a sweetmeat, on buttered toast, or with cold meats and cheese.
Pumpkin chips belong to a large family of nineteenth-century preserves in which a cheap, bland, abundant vegetable was cooked in enough sugar and citrus to pass for candied fruit; the same trick was played on citron melon, watermelon rind, green tomatoes and vegetable marrow. Recipes of this kind appear in English and American household books from the early 1800s onward, and their logic is that of a farm pantry: a good winter pumpkin kept in a cool cellar meant the preserving need not be done at harvest, which is the point the opening lines make. Lemons, by contrast, had to be bought, which may be why the writer tells you to secure several dozen at once.