How to make classic or sweet and sour pumpkin in oil, spicy and flavorful to always have it ready to enjoy in all its goodness any day of the year, just by opening a jar that’s ready in the pantry. Today we stock up on pumpkin, preserved in oil, with a sweet and sour taste or classic, simply by omitting only 1 ingredient, namely sugar, and in any case it will be delicious. Let’s see together how to prepare this preserve safely, without risk. Essential for preserving foods in oil is the vinegar step, as it allows, together with other ingredients, oil and salt, for perfect preservation without the need to vacuum seal the jars, which we can always do if we want greater safety and longer shelf life of our foods in oil, but I assure you that even without it, it preserves excellently, even beyond a year, and the pumpkin is as crunchy as freshly prepared. So, I would say we should proceed to the preparation of the recipe, which is quick and really excellent.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Economical
- Rest time: 10 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4 jars
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients for Pumpkin in Oil
- 2.2 lbs cleaned pumpkin
- 2.1 cups water
- 2.1 cups white wine vinegar
- 2 tsps sugar (optional)
- 1 tsp salt (scant)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 chili peppers
- 1 sprig rosemary
- to taste sunflower oil
- to taste olive oil
Tools for Preparing Pumpkin in Oil with Garlic, Chili Pepper, and Rosemary
- 1 Pot
- 1 Colander
- 1 Kitchen Towel
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 3 Jars
- 1 Teaspoon
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Peeler
Steps to Prepare Sweet and Sour or Classic Pumpkin in Oil
Let’s start preparing the pumpkin, cut it, clean it well inside with a spoon. We don’t throw away the seeds but prepare a quick and healthy snack – the oven-salted pumpkin seeds. Slice the pumpkin into thin slices, about 1/5 inch thick. Use a peeler to peel the slices obtained. Then cut the slices into shorter pieces of about 2 inches.
Bring to a boil in a pot the vinegar with water, salt, and sugar if we want to give a sweet and sour taste, otherwise skip the sugar. Bring to a boil and add the pumpkin, cook for 4-5 minutes from boiling.
Drain and lay on a clean kitchen towel, distributing it well so that it dries well.
Meanwhile, sterilize the jars, I do it quickly in the microwave, the lids in a pot. How to sterilize jars.
Also prepare the seasoning, minced garlic and chili peppers, and a bit of rosemary leaves, I quickly passed them in the pumpkin cooking water with vinegar, in a strainer for greater safety.
When the pumpkin is dry, start jarring, using tongs to arrange the pumpkin well inside, but you can also work with well-cleaned and dried hands. At the bottom of the jars, put a few grains of coarse salt, then start putting the pumpkin, halfway through add some of the fragrances and continue filling the jars, put some more spices on top. Continue this way until finished.
Finally, cover the pumpkin in the jars with oil, we can use olive oil or sunflower oil. Wait for the oil to settle well at the bottom of the jar and then top up if necessary. At that point, we can close our jars and store them in a dark pantry. Leave a few weeks to rest before enjoying our pumpkin in oil, sweet and sour, or classic without sugar.
For larger quantities, obviously, a greater amount of water, vinegar, salt, and sugar is needed, always maintaining the same proportions.
Store the jars in a cool, dark place, so that the pumpkin in oil is preserved for over a year.
Store the jars in a cool, dark place, so that the pumpkin in oil is preserved for over a year.
