I made these last year and they were a big hit! You can also substitute melon balls (do not cook)

Pumpkin pickles

Pumpkin pickles are made with cubed pumpkin cooked tender and preserved in sweet-and-sour pickling brine. The brine usually consists of water, vinegar and sugar, seasoned with spices like white pepper, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger etc.

The piquant, sweet-and-sour pumpkin pickles may be served to accompany many vegetable and meat dishes, or used in snacks, cocktail bites and fillings.

PUMPKIN PICKLES

1 l (about 500 g) peeled pumpkin, cut into small dice (1 Ã 1 cm)

pickling liquid:

200 ml vinegar

320 ml water

300 ml sugar

about ½ tbsp whole cloves

pinch of grated nutmeg or mace

½ cinnamon stick

Place the ingredients for the pickling liquid in a large, shallow saucepan and bring to the boil.

Pour the pumpkin cubes in the pan and cover it. Let the pumpkin simmer gently in the liquid for about 20 to 40 minutes, or until the cubes are tender and translucent, but still firm enough to hold their shape. The pumpkin must not become mushy. Check the consistency and shake the pan gently every now and then.

While still boiling hot, pour the pumpkin cubes together with the pickling liquid in clean glass jars sterilized with boiling water. Make sure that the pickling liquid entirely covers the pickles. Prepare some more pickling liquid, if there is not enough of it. Close the jars with tight, clean lids, let cool down and store in refrigerator.

The pumpkin pickles is ready to eat already on the following day. Serve the pickles as a piquant accompaniment for various meat, fish and vegetable dishes.

CONVERT MEASUREMENTS TO NON METRIC HERE:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~marian1/gourmet/convert.htm