I know, it’s not the season for Pumpkin Everything in the United States. But true pumpkin love knows no single season. I never thought to add an ingredient like pumpkin to cornbread before, so I had to try this recipe. As it turns out, I love this twist. It’s sweeter than my typical cornbread recipe, but it’s an interesting change and even if everyone likes pumpkin, it’s a nice way to smuggle in more vegetables at any meal, including breakfast.
This is a recipe from 1918, intentionally created without wheat in order to conserve more of the wheat crop for troops fighting in World War I. It’s a shame it’s been lost to time for so long, but no more.
Incidentally, I’ve been using dehydrated pumpkin to make these. Last year I dehydrated my abundance into 1 cup quantities, then rolled them up in wax paper like fruit leather and stored them in a mason jar. To rehydrate it, I tore the fruit leather into bits into a saucepan of water, then simmered it down until it was thick and measured 2 cups.
Pumpkin Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1½ c. cornmeal
- ½ c. barley or rice flour
- 1 t. salt
- 3 t. baking powder
- ⅓ t. baking soda
- 2 c. pumpkin puree
- ½ c. sugar
- 1 T. hot water
- 1 egg
- 1 c. milk (any kind)
Instructions
- Mix together cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Beat the soda mixed with hot water into the pumpkin, then add the egg, sugar, and milk.
- Add all to dry ingredients and beat together.
- Place in greased pans and bake in a moderate oven (375°) until brown. Makes 2 round layer cake pans.
Here in Australia, corn bread is something we don’t use really, however, I will be dehydrating some pumpkin and then I will blend it into pumpkin powder. This seems to be the new trend at the moment. One thing we do love here is pumpkin soup in the winter.
Blessings Gail.
I never noticed that cornbread isn’t common in Australia but if I think about it, corn is very traditional American–grits, mush, johnnycakes, scrapple, etc.
It’s interesting that pumpkin is a savory ingredient in Australia but almost exclusively a sweet one in the US.
Thanks for the recipe! It sounds really tasty – I’ll be trying it this weekend for my G/F husband!
I hope you both like it! I use the rice flour option.
This sounds yummy! Thanks for sharing!