a curry to die for

September 15, 2016 7:31 AM

Experienced canners, please help me make and preserve a delicious botulism-free coconut pumpkin curry sauce.

A local brewery has roasted pumpkin left over from its seasonal pumpkin brew. I am taking ~20 pounds of it to make a curry that will be gorgeous and golden and look lovely in jars that I will share with others. So I don't want to freeze it, I want to can it.

My experience with canning is limited to eating canned vegetables. What do I need to know about canning non-acidic ingredients using a borrowed pressure canner so that I don't kill people with my curry? Is there anything this recipe has/is missing that would help preserve it better?

posted by headnsouth to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

That sounds like a challenging canning project. If you're in the states I'd call your local cooperative extension office.
posted by leahwrenn at 7:38 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

My guess is this is the right district
page, and they offer "Individualize home preserver support via phone/e-mail".

(I'm an experienced water bath canner, but your project is beyond what I'd feel comfortable wi without a tested recipe. )
posted by leahwrenn at 7:44 AM on September 15, 2016

The USDA Home canning guide has recommended times for pressure canning pumpkins. If you're using a pressure canner and follow the guidelines, you should have little botulism worries.
posted by dis_integration at 7:44 AM on September 15, 2016

First - this roasted pumpkin was not used in the brewing, correct? It was just roasted and not used?

If it was used in the brewing it might not have any flavor or have a flavor but not what you want.
posted by littlewater at 8:03 AM on September 15, 2016

Response by poster: Yes, this roasted pumpkin was not used in the brewing.

Everything I have found about canning pumpkin is about canning chunks of pumpkin, not about sauces. Looks like the coconut might make it a non-starter, if that counts as a cream/thickener, since that appears off-limits. I don't want to process a half-made recipe so I will freeze if need be but I would love to do this if it's possible.
posted by headnsouth at 8:09 AM on September 15, 2016

Best answer: Since it is such a complex canning issue, I think, if gifted this, I might very sadly dispose of it unless I knew the person to be a consummate canning expert with many years' experience with canning the usually un-can-able.

But if I received it frozen in a nice jar I would be very pleased to receive it, dump in some gently fried paneer, and thrill to the delicious meal. (I would probably even give you a bottle of wine in return if you went so far as to include another jar of frozen cooked basmati rice.)

Lots of people are skittish about home-canned goods that are not the usual straightforward jams and pickles. I think it would still make a fine presentation frozen in a Mason jar. I think the risks here include not just botulism &c but the risk of people being skittish about the canning and it going to waste. Unfortunately! I wish I had a more optimistic answer.
posted by kmennie at 8:26 AM on September 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Warning: I made the most exquisite beef barley soup imaginable (roasting marrow bones and oxtail, making the broth, etc.) and froze some in Mason jars, being careful to leave lots of room for expansion. The jars ALL broke. Proceed with caution.
posted by kate4914 at 8:54 AM on September 15, 2016

Maybe try making the recipe with just water, then provide a can of coconut milk to mix it with for final preparation?
posted by dis_integration at 9:00 AM on September 15, 2016

I remember reading an article specifically about canning chunks of pumpkin versus pureed. Chunks are ok because the liquid around them gets to the right temperature for safety, but it's a really dense vegetable and you can't get the center of a can of puree up to the right temperatures. I realize that this would be thinned out with the other ingredients but add me to the list of people who wouldn't eat this from a gift unless I knew it had JUST been made and was kept in a fridge in the meantime.
posted by brilliantine at 9:07 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yeah, IIRC, pureed pumpkin is super hard to can properly because of this density. I wanted to make some pumpkin butter a couple of years ago but pretty much all advice--from experienced canners and online--was, "Yeah, don't. Make some to enjoy now but don't count on being able to can this and eat it safely for the future."
posted by Kitteh at 9:11 AM on September 15, 2016

Even if you can safely can the pumpkin, the flavor is probably going to be compromised. I made pumpkin butter some years ago, and it had an overcooked taste from being pressure-canned that was not enjoyable.
posted by momus_window at 9:25 AM on September 15, 2016

Best answer: I wouldn't can a recipe that hasn't been tested. I've taken several canning classes and pumpkin comes up every single time as a big no no. There is a Thai Coconut Squash soup recipe in the New Ball Book of Canning. It uses cubed squash (I think you could safely switch in pumpkin as long as the dice is the same). I can send it to you if you want. The recipe has you add in coconut milk, red onion, cilantro and lime wedges when you're ready to eat because milks aren't generally safe to can, and the rest would have a weird texture after pressure canning for an hour and a quarter. The only problem is that recipe only calls for 1 1/2 lbs of pumpkin. I also have a recipe for "Autumn Glory Compote" which can be processed in a water bath canner. It has pumpkin, pineapple, dried fruit and cinnamon, which looks like a real treat. You can also dice pumpkin and pressure can it in water (or wine! or juice! whatever you think will taste fun). The one thing about any of these is if the pumpkin is already roasted, it may get a weird texture. Let me know if any of that sounds good to you. If you're sure you want curry, your best option is to freeze it in a wide mouth jar (it helps prevent cracking) with plenty of space for it to expand. Or you can use the plastic containers for freezing because I'm pretty sure those have explicit "fill up to here" lines on them.
posted by Bistyfrass at 10:05 AM on September 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't do this, use the freezer instead. Canning pumpkin is very challenging because of its density; the heat cannot penetrate easily. And the spices might go off in storage...I don't think it would come out very tasty anyways no matter if you could do it safely and it looked good.

gorgeous and golden and look lovely in jars that I will share with others.

This, by the way, is the worst reason to can something. Sometimes it looks pretty, sometimes it doesn't, but all that matters is that it is safe and tastes good. And in this case I don't think you can be assured of either.

Again: freezer. If you do that, freeze it unsealed and put the lids on once it's frozen (if there's a vaccuum it will break when it expands during freezing). Or use ziplocks.
posted by epanalepsis at 10:39 AM on September 15, 2016

Response by poster: Disaster averted! This delicious recipe will be gorgeous and golden and lovely when frozen. Thanks all!
posted by headnsouth at 10:54 AM on September 15, 2016 [1 favorite]