Native American Recipes
Pueblo Pumpkin Candy
This is an old Pueblo treat. Traditionally the strips of pumpkin are soaked in a bath of water and wood ashes to soften. Today many Indian cooks substitute baking soda for the ashes. If you prefer a less sweet candy, add the lemon juice and thin strips of lemon zest to the sugar syrup with cilantro. If you have a sweet tooth, roll the dried candy in coarse sugar.
Yield: about 1 pound
Ingredients
- 1 (2 to 3 pound) pumpkin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- Juice and zest of 1 small lemon
- 3 to 4 sprigs fresh cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- Peel and seed pumpkin and cut it into 2 x 4 inch strips. Stir baking soda into enough water to cover strips. Add pumpkin strips and let stand 12 hours.
- Drain and rinse pumpkin in running water. Drop strips into a pot of boiling water and cook until tender but not soft. Remove pumpkin strips, crisp in ice cold water, and drain.
- Combine sugar with 1/2 cup water, lemon juice and zest, and cilantro in a saucepan. Heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved, then boil slowly without stirring for 10 minutes.
- Add pumpkin strips, cover the pot, and simmer for about 20 minutes until syrup is thick and strips are brittle. Spread candy out on a rack or on a wax paper-covered tray to dry for at least 10 hours.
- Roll in additional sugar if desired and store in an airtight container.