Safely Can Pie Pumpkin for Pies and Soups
Canned Pumpkin for Pies & More
Do you love eating pumpkin pie? It tastes so fresh and delicious when made from fresh pie pumpkins. You can can pie pumpkin yourself and enjoy a pumpkin pie all year long, depending on how many pies you can.
And if you buy a pie pumpkin, save the seeds to plant next year and save money by growing your own.
The processing time in the pressure canner takes some time but is so worth the effort. Making pumpkin pie, muffins, ice cream, cake, brownies and even pumpkin butter. We think recipes taste better with fresh pumpkin versus store bought.
We recommend starting to can pie pumpkins earlier in your day. The canning time per batch is 65-90 minutes in a pressure canner and you have to allow them to release naturally. You also need to consider the time it takes to prepare the pumpkins for canning as well into your timeline and how many pumpkins you want to process. Depending on their size, they can fill 1 or 4 (maybe more) quart jars. One quart jar makes 1 pumpkin pie.
What Kind of Pumpkin Makes Pumpkin Pie?
If you are canning pumpkin to make a pie you will want to use a sugar pumpkin. They are smaller and sweeter than the decorating pumpkins you typically grow and carve. Sugar pumpkins can be used to make muffins, cake, cookies and any of your dishes you are looking to make.
How is Canned Pumpkin Puree Different from Homemade Canned Pumpkin?
Not all cans are make from pumpkin puree. Some of them contain other vegetables, including squash. Another different is that when you can, you do not make it into a puree, it is in chunks. From the Ball Canning books and other safe canning practice sites, puree has not been deemed a safe method for home canning.
What Equipment is Needed to Can Pumpkins?
You will need a pressure canner as pumpkin needs to be pressure canned. A Dutch oven or large pot is needed to boil the pumpkin as well as canning jars, knife, vegetable peeler, cutting board, ice cream scoop and canning utensils.
Peeling and removing seeds can be messy. We have found that using a very large bowl and setting the pumpkin into it while doing these tasks can help eliminate some of the mess.
Should The Pumpkin Be Peeled Before Canning?
Yes. The peel should be removed before you can. We used a vegetable peeler. It prevented waste that you may get with using a knife. A knife can be used, but you will need to move slower to not have a lot of waste.
How Many Jars Are Needed to Make a Pumpkin Pie?
With the chunks and space, you get about 2 cups of pumpkin in a quart jar after puree. That is perfect for making 1 pumpkin pie. If you are using pint jars, use two to make a pie.
To easily remove pumpkin seeds and string, a sturdy ice cream scoop makes this task go quickly. Using a knife to cut the edges of the pumpkin to remove the outer skin also works well to allow you to use a vegetable peeler to remove the rest of the skin.
Does The Pumpkin Need to Be Blanched?
The sugar pumpkin needs to be brought to a boil and boiled for 2 minutes before it is canned. The pieces should also be in about 1 inch in size.
How Do You DeBubble Jars?
Use your bubble remover and headspace stick to get the air pockets from around your pumpkin. We also use the debubbler to carefully move the pumpkin around to see if we can fit more into each jar.
What Canning Method Is Used For Canning Pumpkin?
Pumpkins needs to be pressure canned and not water bathed. They are not acidic to just have a water bath canner.
Additionally, pumpkin should be canned in chunks, it cannot be pureed and then canned. It would be do dense and would not be safe to can. Pumpkin needs to be cut into 1 inch size chunks to be canned. If you want puree, consider freezing your pumpkin.
How Long Is Pumpkin Pressure Canned?
We can in quart jars. Quart jars need to be processed for 90 minutes. If you are using pint jars, they need to be processed for 55 minutes. Processing time starts when the pressure canner reaches 10 pounds of pressure.
Canning Pumpkin Pie Filling Chunks
Equipment
Ingredients
- pie pumpkins
- hot water
- salt
Instructions
- Wash the pumpkins removing dirt and remove the stems.
- Cut the pumpkins in half with a knife.
- With the ice cream scoop, scoop out all the seeds and string insides from the pumpkin. This works best inside a bowl as seeds like to go EVERYWHERE.
- Use the vegetable peeler to peel the outer rind off the pumpkin.
- IF this does not work for you, you can cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces and remove the peel. Last option is to use the knife, but be careful not to remove too much outer later.
- Cut the pumpkin into one-inch pieces and place into a Dutch oven with water in it.Repeat until pot is full or your are done cutting up pumpkin.
- Place Dutch oven on stove and bring water to a boil. Let water boil for 2 minutes and then remove from the heat.
- At the same time, put at least water in your pressure canner and heat up. Water should be at least 2" deep, if not more. (about 2 quarts worth)
- Also get hot water ready to go into the jars once the pumpkin is done cooking.
- Place your canning funnel on the jar. Use a strainer ladle and strain pumpkin before placing into jar (without water from boiling pumpkin)
- Fill the jars, leaving 1" headspace.Add hot water to hot jars and remove air bubbles.
- Clean the top of the jar and place the seal and band on the jar and finger tighten.
- Water should be same temp as jars.
- Bring the pressure cooker up to 10 pounds pressure and process for 55 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.Note: Time starts once 10 pounds of pressure is reached.
- After processing time has completed, turn off heat and allow pressure to release from canner.
- Once pressure is released, CAREFULLY remove the lid from the pot. Turn it AWAY from you as there may be hot steam or water on the lid.
- Let the jars sit for at LEAST 5 minutes in the canner before removing.If you don't the water will escape from the jars.
- Remove the jars and place on the counter to cool with the jar carrier. You can place them on a towel and cover with a towel to allow to cool for 24 hours.Remember, they are hot!
- After 24 hours, remove bands and check that the lids have sealed. (removing the band and checking that the seal is secure).Date and label jars.
Video
How much water do you need to boil the pumpkin before you can it and can you use the water from the boiled pumpkin to can it??
Hello. Enough water to cover the pumpkin. I followed the recipe from Ball Canning and it does not mention reusing water and it doesn’t say to use fresh water. I’ve used fresh clean hot water for this.
Can I put the spices in the pumpkin
Before I can the pumpkin
Hello.
No spices go in. It can alter the canned pumpkin acidity and the spices could turn.
I have a recipe I got years ago for pumpkin pie in a jar. It has sugar and all the spices in it. I have used it several years. You can pts. for 1 hour and qtrs.. for 80 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure, All you have to do is add eggs and evaporated milk. Do you think this recipe is still safe or not?
Hello.
I’ve not found in current canning practices that you can can a pie in a jar.
Pumpkin needs to be canned in cubes.
You can read more here at the National Center for Home Food Preservation: https://nchfp.uga.edu/tips/fall/pumpkins.html and Michigan State University also shared details on this. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/preserving_pumpkin_safely
I freeze my pumpkin spices included. 1 Quart of pumpkin makes 2 9″ pies.
Great idea. I was just thinking about doing that myself, so it would be easy to make.
I know this is an old post, but can you tell me what size jars you used and how many are needed to equal a can of pumpkin puree?
Hi Rachel, I used pint jars. Because you have to leave the pumpkin pie in chunks and there is dead space, you need 2 pint jars to make a regular pumpkin pie.
Happy canning/pie making1
How and huh water bath canning and 10lbs of pressure???
You use a pressure canner and bring it up to 10 pounds pressure.
This sounds like a great idea especially if you want to enjoy fresh pumpkin year round.