Pumpkin Pudding

Pumpkin Pudding was always something I seemed to have when visiting family and friends houses and was always a great treat now and again.  Mum preferred to make pumpkin fritters at home so I always preferred them  hot from the pan versus the cool set slices or squares pumpkin pudding is cut into.  It’s funny I have made pumpkin fritters dozens of times but only made a batch of pudding for the very first time for our family and friends at last year’s St Helenian’s Day.  I’d forgotten how good it tastes and now love a nice cup of hot tea and a slice or two from time to time.

Pumpkin Pudding is filled with nostalgia for me.  Going to see ‘old’ family relatives with my Grandpa, or any older person really, they would always have some Pumpkin Pudding to go with a cup of tea.  As a kid I wasn’t a huge fan of Pumpkin (I’ve grown into the taste) so didn’t fully appreciate its soft sweet taste until later in life.  Now whenever I’m lucky enough to enjoy a piece, it transports be back to those kitchen tables."

Pumpkin pudding mmmmmmm….. with lots of fruit and spice. One of my favourite saint foods. Had never made it myself as I always took the easy way and made pumpkin fritters – quicker to make. Until one day one of my work colleagues brought in some greenskin pumpkin for us. We, of course, said mmmmm…. a nice bit of pumpkin pudding! one of my friends said that she and I would make pumpkin pudding and bring it to work for the rest of our colleagues the following day.  How hard could that be? After all, it was just pumpkin fritter mixture baked in the oven right? So, of course, I could make that. Pumpkin fritter mixture prepared and in the oven. One hour later it’s not done. Two hours later… still not done. Three hours later …. still not done! I gave up. Must have been the wrong kind of pumpkin…… A gloopy mess of a pumpkin pudding left on the kitchen table ready to bin the next morning. Imagine my surprise when the following morning the pudding looked like a proper pumpkin pudding! But the texture was rubbery. I couldn’t take that to work! I’m explaining how the pudding didn’t work out for me. The friend who brought the pumpkin was laughing when she heard the story and thought it was hilarious that I baked pumpkin fritter batter for three hours. It turned out that I needed to add an egg and some butter to the mixture and bake for three-quarters of an hour, remove from the oven and leave it to set for an hour or so. That was twenty years ago! Happy to say that my pumpkin puddings are now a family favourite. Try using different dried fruit combinations, coconut and chopped nuts.  Lovely!