I had gotten a big white pumpkin last year, and when it was baked, it was cooked but still very firm. Interesting! I pressured canned some down, after 90 mins at 15 PSI, when opened, they still had a decent firmness to them. VERY interesting! This year I bought 4 of them, and it turns out, there are at least two types being sold as "ghost." The ones I got look alike (big white pumpkins) but cook up differently, but both are very interesting! Both types have a bland flavor, which, with their non-mushy textures, leads to some fun options!
One type feels light when you pick them up. Thin walled, large cavity, not much inside, smooth seeds. The other feels heavy when you pick it up, the wall is thick, the cavity small and has lots of "seed bays" (I don't know the word) and the seeds have a more defined edge on them. Not sure you can see it in this picture, but there is no confusing the seeds, they look very different.
The ones on the left come from the thicker walled pumpkin, and have a more defined edge.
The thicker walled one cooked up more solid, so it got turned into squash dill pickles! Basic dill pickle juice recipe, chunked squash, pressure canned down. I pressure can ALL squash, I don't assume it will water bath safely, even with vinegar. The bits that didn't fit in the jars are excellent, I suspect the canned ones will be too. I also made some dill relish out of smaller bits of squash, same idea, I think I put onions and celery seed into that one, and pressure canned it in jelly jars. Makes lovely tuna salad sandwiches, just add mayo! They don't have the crisp texture cucumbers do, I don't consider that a deal breaker. They taste yummy, that's what I care about.
The thinner walled ones are a bit softer, but still firm. They got turned into Squash "Raisins" things you can dump into a pie or cake, and they add a raisiny taste, and a bit of texture. I did not cut them as small as raisins, maybe grape sized or finger tip sized. To the water I was boiling them in I added molasses and Vitamin C powder. Citric acid would have worked too, or probably lemon juice, Vit C is what I had at hand. Made sure they had good liquid around them. Hot packed in, and again, pressure canned, not water bath. I do squash at 90 mins at 15 PSI. The ones that didn't fit in the jar got tossed into a cake. Raisin flavor! Really yummy!
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