# Is It Safe To Can Pumpkin Butter?



## my3boys (Jan 18, 2011)

I was talking to a woman who teaches canning classes at the local Penn State extension and she told me it is no longer considered safe to can pumpkin butter, that you should freeze it instead, but apple butter is okay. 

Has anyone else heard of this? What about pressure canning like other vegies? What is it about pumpkin that makes it unsafe?

Carol


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

The problem with canning pumpkin or winter squash is several-fold. For one, the density of the product compared with the acidity of the product. Apple butter has a higher, RELIABLE acidity ratio to density than pumpkin or squash do. It's not as easy to just acidify pumpkin or squash because different varieties have different densities and differing water content. The moisture content affects processing times as does the relative acidity and density. Because there is such a wide range, there aren't reliable canning recommendations yet. I think there will be...eventually. But it's an ongoing study to find a safe, reliable method, even with pressure canning.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

my3boys said:


> I was talking to a woman who teaches canning classes at the local Penn State extension and she told me it is no longer considered safe to can pumpkin butter, that you should freeze it instead, but apple butter is okay.
> Carol


I read that on these boards. They said the density makes it unsafe? Honestly though, I still canned squash just last week, and will can pumpkin this fall. I've done it for decades, so I find it impossible to believe the same product done in the same way is suddenly deadly, but wasn't last year.


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

mekasmom said:


> I read that on these boards. They said the density makes it unsafe? Honestly though, I still canned squash just last week, and will can pumpkin this fall. I've done it for decades, so I find it impossible to believe the same product done in the same way is suddenly deadly, but wasn't last year.


I would imagine (and this is entirely my own opinion) that if it's merely pumpkin, or squash and you're canning it with the intention of using it for cooking/baking and it's going to be subject to long cooking anyway, it probably wouldn't hurt to continue to do as you've always done. From what I understand, out of the home canned pumpkin butters/mashed pumpkin/mashed squash that they tested, a large percentage still harbored dangerous microbes despite the processing, because of the density involved. It's when people merely "reheat" the product, or use it straight out of the jar that the biggest risk would come. But as with any home food preservation methods, we each assume our own risk for our own methods, whatever they may be. That's kind of the beauty of it. We are less exposed to the general recalls of foods, and if anyone gets sick from anything we put up, it's generally only us, or our families. I always try to err on the side of caution.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

No it is not. I just freeze it in half pint canning jars.


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