As a Latvian my heart will always want, no crave pickles. They are one of the things that make my nation tick. Like burgers for Americans or curries for the British. There is always something fun about trying a new pickle and finding interesting ways of using them. A few years ago I made a jelly out of a leftover pickled strawberry brine and it is still one of my favourite things I have ever made. Hence when I stumbled upon a pickled pumpkin recipe in a 18th century cookbook, I knew I had to try it. So since it is fall for you lucky Northern Hemispherers, I thought it would be the perfect time to do so. If I can’t live there, at least I can pretend to by cooking wildly unseasonable meals, right?

Recipe for pickled pumpkins from Professed Cookery (1760) by Ann Cook — Recipe for pickled pumpkins from *Professed Cookery* (1760) by Ann Cook

I manage to find two recipes for pickled pumpkins (from 1760 & 1780). They are very similar to one another, with the later recipe giving more detail and instructions. Interestingly both tell you to cut the pumpkins in decorative shapes or “fancies” suggesting that they were used as a garnish for other dishes.

The 1780’s recipe mentions a few ingredients that we don’t usually have in our kitchens. First being an alum. It is a type of compound whose description honestly went over my head just like most things chemistry related. I added two articles below if you are interested. In short, there are various types of alums. In cooking potassium alum is used. It was mostly added to pickles to help them stay firm. Nowadays it is often omitted from pickling recipes because we have other methods of achieving it. I also guess that it is mostly used in USA as that is where I found the references about alum. Here in Australia, I haven’t been able to locate alum anywhere so for that reason I skipped it.

Recipe for pickled pumpkins from 1780 cookbook A Complete Collection of Cookery Receipts by Kellet Susanna, Elizabeth and Mary — Recipe for pickled pumpkins from 1780 cookbook *A Complete Collection of Cookery Receipts* by Kellet Susanna, Elizabeth and Mary

The other ingredient is cochineal - an insect which when dried and pulverised can used as a dye. Cochineal gives the colour carmine, a deep and beautiful red that was (and still is) used to in cosmetics, fibre dyeing and as a food colouring. Yes, there is a high change you have had it your food. While we have various sources (natural and chemical) with which we can achieve different reds, cochineal is still used today because unlike many other alternatives, the colour doesn’t fade, lasts a long time and most importantly is safe and natural. Light and heat doesn’t affect it. If you want to see if cochineal is used in the foods you like to eat, look for cochineal extract, natural red four, crimson lake or E120.

The recipe also called for rice ginger, which I assume is dried ginger, but I could be wrong. Overall the pickling solution was nice but I would cut down on the mace next time. It was too strong for my taste but then again I always think that, so maybe I just don’t like mace in general. I am also happy that I didn’t skip the wine because it gives more depth of flavour to the pickle and dilutes with vinegar. Lastly as you can probably see in the picture I did just slightly over boil the pumpkin, luckily it wasn’t mushy. For some reason lately I can’t cook a pumpkin without turning it into invalids food.

The end result reminded me of something my mother used to make. Growing up she often made a pumpkin and quince preserve which while sweet in nature, tasted similar to the pickled pumpkins. She said to me that during the Soviet rule pineapples were a luxury and hard to come by, so preserved pumpkins were used as a substitute. A poor mans pineapple, if you like.

I think that the preserve, while good on its own, could be even better by adding it in other dishes. A few ways I can see it being using is to add it in a mash (especially sweet potato), mixed in a autumn salad or added to stir fried mushrooms.

Pickled pumpkin

675 grams peeled and cubed pumpkin
250 ml vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar, but would have preferred to use white wine vinegar)
250 ml white wine
1 ½ tbsp salt
2 tsp white pepper, ground ginger, mace (if I make this again I wouldn’t use as much mace, or maybe skip it all together)
1/3 of small nutmeg
1/4 tsp tumeric

Peel and cut up the pumpkin into as fancy and as big pieces as you like. Boil in salted water until just done then drain. Meanwhile make the pickling solution of vinegar, salt, white pepper, ginger, nutmeg, mace, turmeric and white wine by bringing it to a boil. When the pumpkin is done, add it to a sterile jar, then pour the pickle solution on it. Let it stand couple of days before using it.

Sources

Books
Cook, Ann, Professed Cookery, 3rd edition, London, 1760
Kellet Susanna, Elizabeth, Mary, A Complete Collection of Cookery Receipts, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1780

Web
https://web.archive.org/web/20120401092139/http://www.businessinsider.com/how-cochineal-insects-color-your-food-and-drinks-2012-3?op=1 (written by Kim Bhasin and Noelia de la Cruz, published on 29th March, 2012, accessed on 10th October, 2022)
https://web.archive.org/web/20221010013448/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-43786055 (written by Helen Soteriou and Will Smale, published on 28th April, 2018, accessed on 10th October, 2022)
https://web.archive.org/web/20221017081805/https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-alum-608508 (written by By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., updated on July 10, 2019, accessed on 10th October, 2022)
https://web.archive.org/web/20220927023000/https://www.britannica.com/science/alum (last updated on 12th August, 2022, accessed on 10th October)