Pumpkin or squash in syrup
This pumpkin or squash in syrup will keep well in the fridge for a month covered in the syrup and makes easy puree for cakes or all sorts of baking.
As I wasn’t sure how long it would take to poach it in syrup I tried with half the squash.
Decided to leave the skin on as it would stop the flesh disintegrate if I over-poached it.
Small enough slices to use decoratively in the steam pudding.
On a cold January day like yesterday I welcomed the bright orange.
The syrup was in equal parts by volume. I used a pint (500ml) jug, and added one and half times of sugar and the of same of water.
To the sugar and water add the juice of half of a lemon. This is important in order to stop the syrup from crystallising, you can read all about it in my post here.
Boil the sugar, water and lemon juice first until all the sugar has melted. Add the slices.
Because the squash floats to the top use some parchment paper making sure the paper is covered as much as possible with syrup all over the top of it, what I mean is, push down the paper fully into the syrup.
The frist batch I made I poached them for too long, about 30 minutes, perfect for eating as is but if using them in another recipe I wanted the slices less soft. No matter I bottled these anyway.
And started again with the other half of the squash.
This time poaching them only for 15 minutes.