The pumpkin, truly a symbol of autumn is deep-rooted in American life. In the early days, it was used stewed in soups, in stews, in pie and pudding. The flesh was dried for winter and early spring. The seeds were used as a delicacy.
The early settlers here in the hills learned to grow them in their fields of corn. It was common practice 75 years ago to plan seed of pumpkin in a hill of corn.
To the pioneers, the pumpkin was one of the most versatile of vegetables. Pumpkin could be stored in the fall, down under the fodder bundles and then served as a vegetable – peeled and boiled, and it was then fried – through most of the winter.
Pumpkin butter is a gourmet’s delight, is still a favorite in many a mountain home. So is pumpkin bread and pumpkin molasses.
To make pumpkin bread, according to the recipe handed down, you must stew the pumpkin until it is done, then put in the corn meal and salt it and work it up into a dough shape it into a pone or small cakes, bake until it golden brown.
Some mountain women make a pudding of boiled pumpkin. And some still make pumpkin molasses, which provided sweetening to cook other delicacies. Back then the word molasses was used in the same sense we use syrup today. When cooked for a long time in a large quantity of water, strained and the water further reduced by boiling, you have pumpkin molasses.
Then, of course, there is pumpkin whiskey. As knowledgeable old timers will tell, pumpkin whiskey is a lot easier to make than corn whiskey, and not as risky! All you need is sugar and a good sized pumpkin. You cut a plug out of the top of the pumpkin, clean out the seeds and the pulpy mass to the meat. Then you pack the hollowed out pumpkin full of sugar, replace the plug, seal it with wax, and set the pumpkin under the bed or in a dark place. In a week or so the sugar has turned to liquid and you’ve got a quart or so of whiskey!
It could be dried, or freshly cooked and put into the cornbread batter.
Most of us think of pumpkin pies when we see a wagonload of pumpkins or pumpkins sitting on the back porch. But pumpkin is more than just pie. It is a bread and a pudding, a butter and a molasses. Many a mountain family right now is savoring one or all of them.