Pumpkin storage

Here in south Africa, pumpkins are not preserved as such.

Image source:
http://thechancemuse.blogspot.co.za/2012/04/pumpkin-cafe-and-other-roadside-wonders.html

Normally they are grown, left to hang on a withering vine, and then harvested and placed on a hot tin roof to weather the winter.

The pumpkins and butternut that I harvested last year were taken off the vine before they withered, and left to "air" on an open, but under cover shelf next to the alpaca feed.

They did OK - but not marvelously.  Towards the end the part of the pumpkin in contact with the shelf developed mould / rot. Perhaps there was too much moisture in the air?

Hmmm.  So, I wasn't happy.

Now, I don't have the freezer space to preserve that way.

And, I did not want to pressure can pumpkin.

So, the only other alternative was to dehydrate.

But, not via the use of electricity.

I want, and need, to deydrate via a solar / air method.

Freshly sliced pumpkin placed inside my Foothills
DryAway

I tried dehydrating slices in my Foothills DryAway, but I think I must have sliced it too thick.  

Day 2 of the drying process

It took 3 days to dehydrate, and during the dehydrating process, was bleached.

Finally dehyrated.
But, although unappetizing in appearance,
undoubtedly dehydrated

On re-hydrating the pumpkin, the wishy-washy colour remained.  Totally off-putting!!

Whilst I was googling how best to re-hydrate these slices I noted that most northern hemisphere people powdered their dehydrated pumpkins.  There is no way that these chunky slices would crush into powdered form.

So, my next experiment was to grate the pumpkin prior to placing in my solar dehydrator.

The grated pumpkin was placed on a black
silicone mat to prevent it from dropping
through the net

The grated pumpkin would've fallen through the netting within the Foothills DryAway, so I spread it out on a black silicone mat I normally use in the oven of my Rosie.

Completely dehydrated, and perfect
in colour

Grating the pumpkin worked a treat.  The grated pumpkin was placed out late (11.30a.m.-ish) and by 5.00p.m. the same day was compeltely dehydrated.

You can see the difference in the two different
methods of dehydrating the pumpkin

Most impoprtantly, as can be seen from the above pic, the dehydrated pumpkin retained it's colour!!

Just a sample of the dehydrated pumpkin
was placed in some boiling water

Re-hydrating the pumpkin?  That took a bit of hot, boiled water and half-an-hour later - viola!!

Half-an-hour later - perfectly re-hydrated
pumpkin.

Perfect.

Sigh - I'm a happy little puppy :)

This winter there will be loads of pumpkin soup, pumpkin fritters (dusted with cinnamon sugar), pureed pumpkin (with butter, cinnamon, touch of sugar and splash of cream), pumpkin bread - and, perhaps, I may even try and bake my first ever pumpkin pie ).

I will, of course, retain a couple of whole pumpkins - we can't be without roasted pumpkin now, can we?  :D