Colonial Stewed Pumpkin Recipe (Easy)

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Here's a neat dish for Thanksgiving—based on one of the first written recipes from New England. It was published in 1672. This modern version comes from Plimoth Plantation's cookbook Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History, From Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie.

MODERN VERSION

4 cups cooked squash or pumpkin, mashed
4 tablespoons butter
1–2 tablespoons of cider vinegar

Original Stewed Pumpkin Recipe

From Giving Thanks cookbook:

This recipe [below] for stewed pumpkin comes from John Josselyn, an early traveler to New England. His description of the common dish is full of wonderful details that provide both a sense of how the finished dish should taste ("tart like an apple") and a vivid glimpse into a colonial kitchen ("stew them upon a gentle fire a whole day"). "The Ancient New England standing dish" is one of the earliest written recipes from New England.

The Ancient New England standing dish

But the Housewives manner is to slice them when ripe, and cut them into dice, and so fill a pot with them of two or three Gallons, and stew them upon a gentle fire a whole day, and as they sink, they fill again with fresh Pompions, not putting any liquor to them; and when it is stew'd enough, it will look like bak'd Apples; this they Dish, putting Butter to it, and a little Vinegar, (with some Spice, as Ginger, &c.) which makes it tart like an Apple, and so serve it up to be eaten with Fish or Flesh: It provokes Urin extreamly and is very windy.

--John Josselyn,

New-Englands Rarities Discovered, 1672

1–2 teaspoons of ground ginger (or any combination of nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and or pepper, to taste)
1 teaspoon salt

Place the squash, butter, vinegar and spices in a saucepan over low heat. Stir and heat until all of the ingredients are well combined and hot. Adjust the seasonings to your liking and serve.

Editor's note: To prepare your own cooked pumpkin for this, just boil the meat—without the seeds—until it’s tender.

Serves 8.

Republished with permission from Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History, From Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie, by Kathleen Curtin, Sandra L. Oliver and Plimoth Plantation (Clarkson Potter, October 2005, $22.50).

Last updated and/or approved: March 2010. Original article appeared in fall 2005 former print magazine.

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