This time of year, a canner’s fancy turns to pumpkins. Tis the season for all things round, orange and squashy, after all. However, as you start searching for recipes for home canned pumpkin butter from reputable sources, you’re going to find yourself disappointed. You see, both the USDA and the National Center for Home Food Preservation are going to tell you the same thing. Don’t do it.
I’m sure there are more than a few of you out there saying to yourself, “but I’ve been making and water bath canning pumpkin butter for years!” And it’s true, many years ago, there were USDA-approved recipes for pumpkin butter. Unfortunately, the rules of canning are not a static canon and so, in 1989 the USDA changed their recommendations and the NCHFP followed suit. No home canning for pumpkin butter, not even in a pressure canner.
The reasons why homemade pumpkin butter isn’t recommended are several. When cooked down into a butter, pumpkin flesh becomes quite dense, making it difficult for the heat produced in a canner to penetrate fully through the contents of the jar. This means that even in a pressure canner, the interior of the jar may not reach the 240 degrees needed to kill those pesky botulism spores.
Additionally, pumpkin and all other winter squash are a low-acid vegetables, meaning that without careful treatment, they could potentially be a friendly environment in which botulism spores might grow into their toxic adult state. In tests, it’s been found that the pH of pumpkin has a fairly wide range, meaning that it’s not possible to offer a basic acidification ratio as there is for other borderline and low acid foods.
The good news is that pumpkin butter can be frozen and also keeps quite well in the fridge, so it doesn’t have to be entirely off the menu. I’ve also been pondering whether one could make a an apple-pumpkin butter that would be high enough in acid to be safe for canning, but would contain enough pumpkin to be sufficiently autumnal. I may do a bit of playing around, to see if I can get somewhere close to the flavor I’d like to eat.
If you’re curious to read more about the safety hazards of canning pumpkin butter and other squash purees, click here to download the PDF that was the primary source for this post.
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Ok this is a little to late I just put a pie pumpkin in the oven to roast it so I can make pumpkin butter because I have a lot of customers asking for it. I am getting mixed reviews not only here but on other sites about canning pumpkin butter. I found several recipes that say to add 1/3 cup lemon juice to the recipe. When I make pies I usually pull the pumpkin straight from the oven, puree it and then bake it after adding everything to it. This is the first on pumpkin butter but I was going to treat it like any other fruit/veggie I have canned. Which is anything thing that has low acid add lemon juice to it( lets face it I put lemon juice in everything), I can my extremely hot fruits and veggie ( I know cause I have gotten second degree burns from them splashing up from the pot) and process everything in a water bath for 25 minutes just to be safe. I am hoping doing this it will be safe.
Melissa, it is not safe to can pumpkin butter using any method. You cannot just hope it will be safe. If your customers are demanding it, make it as a refrigerator-only product. You cannot treat it like every other thing you’ve canned. Seriously, don’t do it.
Melissa ~
I would not hesitate to make pumpkin butter as you describe. If you’ve baked the pumpkin at 350 degrees, you have killed any innate botulism. If you are clean and sanitary in the rest of the process, and everything is as hot as it can be, the butter, jars, etc, you should not have a problem.
Folks, once again, I have to beg to differ. Just because you put something in a 350 degree oven doesn’t mean that the actual product reaches 350 degrees. Baking does not kill botulism spores. The only way to dependably elevate temperatures high enough to kill botulism spores is to do so with a pressure canner. However, it has been found that because pumpkin butter is so dense, even when canned in a pressure canner, the heat doesn’t reliably penetrate to the center of the jars. So you can’t reliably can pumpkin butter in any fashion. If you are using lemon juice to elevate acidity, you must check the product with a pH meter in order to ensure that you’ve reached those safe levels. Seriously, I don’t recommend this.
I am using manufacturer’s canned pumpkin to make my pumpkin butter. Using a pressure canner, is it still unsafe to can pumpkin butter?
It doesn’t matter what variety of pumpkin you use. Pumpkin butter is not safe for canning whether it was made from fresh pumpkin or canned.
I baked my pumpkin, and now making a butter. I was…actually am in the process of canning. I guess i will take the jars out and put in the frig.
I was planning on shipping the butter to family. I guess thats not a good idea.
Is it possible to get sick of the butter if it is not continually in the frig? Can i keep in my frig and just handout to people?
It’s fine if you keep it refrigerated, as the temperature will inhibit the growth of any botulism spores into the botulism toxin.
Just a thought…manufacturers (ball jars potentially in this case) are all about reputation and liabilities….I’ve made it for years and have not killed anyone, nor made them sick. It’s a tradition for my for family and they LOVE it. Prior to that I bought it at a local apple farm and never got sick. Hmmm odds seem pretty good. Companies cannot afford that .5% that did not get the sanitation right…be true to yourself …
Joanna, it’s not about sanitation but acidity.
If something can be canned in a can, like pumpkin, why can’t it be canned in a jar? How does Libby’s do it?
Commercial canning facilities can manage much higher temperatures than are possible in home kitchens.