Mounds of multi-hued pumpkins at a local farmer’s market are a sign that fall has arrived. Unlike in America, where pumpkins are eaten primarily in the fall, pumpkins in Ukraine are an important year-round dietary staple featured in soups, pies, combined with millet or rice for porridge, baked with honey, savory tarts, cheesecakes and desserts. This Crustless Pumpkin Cheesecake (габузова запіканка) illustrates how Ukrainian cooks combine their love of homemade fresh cheese and pumpkin into a luscious, special occasion dessert.
Pumpkins by a roadside in Ukraine
Although pumpkins are not indigenous to Ukraine, they and their kin have an established role in Ukrainian cooking and language. Pumpkins squash, cucumbers, melons, cantaloupe, watermelons and zucchini and some gourds are taxonomically a part of the Cucurbitaceae family that made their way into the Ukrainian culinary repertoire in the centuries following their European arrival from the Americas with Spanish and Portuguese explorers in early 16th century. For almost one hundred years, Ukrainians and other Europeans used pumpkins, squashes and gourds primarily to feed livestock, not appreciating their nutritional benefits. In the 17th century CE, the pumpkin family was added to peasant rations and by the end of that century pumpkins were mentioned as a family staple in Charles Perrault ‘s Cendrillon (Cinderella), included in his anthology Histoires ou contes du temps passé. By the 19th century CE, the pumpkin family’s nutritional attributes were widely recognized throughout Europe.
Ukrainian cooks discovered the pumpkin’s wonderful versatility, providing important sustenance whether roasted, boiled, parched, or baked. Seeds were eaten, fresh or roasted, and pressed to produce oil for use in medical applications and as an industrial lubricant. With their thick shell and solid flesh, pumpkins became a familiar and important vegetable crop in Ukraine, easily cultivated and producing a bountiful, long-storing harvest that could be dried, preserved, indispensable in times of scarcity. The entire pumpkin family is much loved by Ukrainians, and throughout the year, pumpkins enhance soups, meats, vegetable sautés. sweet and savory tarts.
Aside from its culinary versatility, the pumpkin played an important historical role in an early courting ritual memorialized in Ukraine’s language with the expression “daty harbuza” (дати гарбуза), which means to “give a pumpkin.”
In agricultural Ukraine, autumn was traditionally the time for courtship, engagement and marriage. All field work was done. The harvests were stored for winter and it was time to turn to matters of the heart. Young men were ready to court, and beautiful and discriminating Ukrainian girls prepared stocks of pumpkins for suitors.
Why pumpkins? Let me explain:
In prior centuries, there were no social rules in Ukraine about which gender should propose marriage. It was then accepted practice for young Ukrainian women to propose marriage to men. This Ukrainian tradition, unusual to European observers, was documented in Description d’Ukranie (Description of Ukraine) by French architect, cartographer and fortress designer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan who traveled throughout Ukraine in 1670, mapping the country’s boundaries and writing about its customs, history and nature. De Beauplan described this practice this way: a Ukrainian woman accompanied by parents comes to the home of the man she wants to marry. She proposes to him in front of both families. If she is beautiful or practical or noted for good domestic skills or from a well-to-do family, the proposal is accepted, and marriage planning begins. But if she is undesirable, refusing her proposal is a bad omen, humiliating for both families. A rejected woman then turns to matchmakers to find a suitable mate, often in another community.
A young man, on the other hand, often used several matchmakers to make his marriage intention known to the woman he desired. The mission of knowledgeable and smooth-talking matchmakers, usually the most honorable village residents, is to convince the woman’s parents and prospective bride that a better marriage partner could not be found. If the young woman is interested in the suitor, and her parents approve, she would give him an embroidered towel or scarf in acceptance of his proposal. But if the woman, with her parents’ approval, does not want to marry her suitor, she presents the suitor and his matchmakers with baked pumpkin wrapped in a cloth which means his proposal is rejected. Thus, the origin of the phrase to “give a pumpkin.”
Folk wisdom suggests that the pumpkin became the symbol of rejection, because pumpkin was deemed to be the master of the garden as largest and most, dramatic vegetable which ripens during the fall matchmaking season, and represented the head of the family and the family itself. A young man receiving a pumpkin was deemed unsuitable to head a family and could not propose a second time. Ukrainian romantic literature notes that the embarrassed rejected male often left the community to seek a marriage partner.
Although that pumpkin practice has practically disappeared in today’s Ukrainian courtship practices as couples date and know each other well before considering marriage, but the expression “give a pumpkin” is imbedded in Ukrainian language and continues to be used linguistically as shorthand for rejection.
But this Crustless Pumpkin Cheesecake does not deserve rejection. This recipe celebrates the pumpkin in all its glory. It marries soft fresh creamy cheese with a velvety, earthy-sweet tasting pumpkin purée into a colorful striped dessert, flavored with vanilla and sweet spices. Unlike American pumpkin pies or cheesecakes, this pumpkin cheesecake does not have a pastry crust but develops a firm baked cheese bottom and sides that provide stability. It makes a great company dessert and is even suitable for a holiday dessert table.
To replicate this dessert in North America and achieve Ukrainian taste, I purchased reduced-fat farmers cheese (the only farmer’s cheese I could find) and combined it with full-fat cream cheese to achieve a fat content closer to the 9% in Ukrainian cheese and used canned solid-pack pumpkin. But if adventuresome with plenty of time, it is easy to make fresh cheese at home from whole milk with an Instant Pot and roasting pie or sugar pumpkins to produce an intensely sweet purée. See links with instructions below for making farmer cheese* and roasting pumpkins for puree at home. ** This Crustless Pumpkin Cheesecake is delectable whether made with purchased or homemade farmer’s cheese and pumpkin. I like this cheesecake as baked, but Ukrainians like to indulge with a dollop of crème fraiche.
Crustless Pumpkin Cheesecake
2 pounds (907 g) farmer cheese or homemade cheese,* room temperature
1 8-ounce (228 g) block cream cheese, room temperature
1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 ¼ cups (281 g) solid-pack pumpkin or homemade**
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground ginger
Pinch of ground cloves
Position an oven rack in the middle. Place a rimmed baking sheet on the rack. Preheat oven to 400˚ F (200˚C).
Butter pan, then line with a 16×12″ sheet of parchment, making sure parchment comes at least 2″ above top of pan on all sides, pleating paper and pressing down as necessary to fit pan. (The pleated parchment will result in pleated cheesecake sides, but that is fine.) Butter parchment bottom and sides.
Two cheeses
Empty farmer cheese into a blender bowl and process until smooth.
Place farmer cheese and cream cheese into a mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth and no lumps remain, scraping sides of bowl several times, about 3 minutes. Add sugar in a slow, steady stream. Add salt, vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating after each until sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute (do not overmix).
Turn off mixer and sift flour evenly over cream cheese mixture using a fine-mesh sieve. Beat on low speed until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue to beat until batter is very smooth, homogenous and silky, about 10 seconds. Tap the bowl on the countertop several times to eliminate any air bubbles. Set aside.
Empty canned pumpkin into a mesh sieve lined with a kitchen towel. Let drain for 30 minutes and then transfer pumpkin into blender, add spices and blend until smooth.
Two alternative preparations: 1) For a uniform cheesecake: Fold the pumpkin mixture into the cheese mixture until thoroughly combined. Transfer to prepared springform pan and bake.
2) For a striped version: Separate cheesecake mixture into two equal portions. Fold the pumpkin mixture into a bowl with one-half cream cheese mixture until evenly distributed.
Pumpkin and cheese mixture
Filling the pan: pour ⅔ cup of the plain cheese mixture directly into center of prepared springform pan, spreading it on the bottom. Then follow with ½ cup of pumpkin mixture. Continue adding alternating mixtures to center of the pan. (As mixtures are added, prior layers will be spread to the pan’s edge, creating a striped effect.)
Layering plain and pumpkin mixtures
Gently tap sides of the pan to settle mixtures. When all mixtures are added, smooth top with a spoon and give cheesecake pan a sharp tap on the counter to level the batter.
Smoothed top, ready to bake
Place pan on the preheated rimmed baking sheet in oven. Bake cheesecake for 45-50 minutes, watching carefully and covering with foil if cake edges brown too quickly. Cake is done when top is dark, golden brown, but the cheesecake mixture is wobbly in center. (Cheesecake edges will be caramelized and quite dark.) Test for doneness by tapping side of pan with wooden spoon.
When done, remove cake from oven to a rack and let cool slightly (The cake will be slightly puffed when taken from oven and will fall back down and flatten as it cools). Then, remove pan sides and let completely cool. Carefully peel away parchment from sides of cheesecake. Refrigerate, uncovered, at least 24 hours. Run a knife under cake to loosen parchment from cake and with a wide spatula, move cake to serving dish.
Slice into wedges and serve at room temperature, plain or with a spoon of crème fraiche or whipping cream.
Serves 10
*https://thisoldgal.com/instant-pot-homemade-cottage-cheese-recipe/
**https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2011/10/24/baking-with-pumpkin-making-your-own-fresh-pumpkin-puree-is-easy
Photo credits:
Evening field with ripe pumpkins in Ukraine
Photo 59788741 © Viktoria Ivanets | Dreamstime.com
All other photos: Slava Johnson
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