Pumpkin Pesto

Pumpkin Pesto with Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil

The pumpkin pesto from Fink's Delikatessen is a creamy pesto made from the whole Styrian oil pumpkin – pulp, seeds, and pumpkin seed oil. Nutty, savory, deep green, with a hint of chili.

Pumpkin pesto is a creamy pesto from the Styrian Volcano region, crafted by Bettina Fink-Haberl. Almost the entire nutmeg pumpkin is used: 31 percent pulp, 20 percent pumpkin seeds, and 40 percent dark green pumpkin seed oil, plus cheese, rock salt, and a touch of chili. A nutty jar that tastes like Styria. The pumpkin seed oil, often called "green gold" in Styria, gives the pesto its color and depth.

Nutty, savory, deep green

The color gives it away immediately – a deep dark green from the Styrian pumpkin seed oil. Only authentic pumpkin seed oil can achieve such a green.

The roasted note of the pumpkin seeds fills the air as soon as you open the jar, and on pasta, the pesto is creamy and full-bodied, nutty from the seeds, savory from the cheese, with a fine heat from the chili. The pumpkin seed oil provides a velvety, deep foundation for it all. This is the taste of the Styrian fields in autumn. Nutty, savory, deep green.

This is not a thin oil-based pesto, but a thick, creamy spread with character. That is exactly why one spoonful is enough to give a dish depth. Anyone who likes Styrian pumpkin seed oil will love this pesto.

With pasta, potatoes, and grilled meat

Pumpkin pesto is more versatile than the name suggests – its range extends from a quick plate of pasta to a festive roast.

Classically, it is tossed with warm pasta, served on baked potatoes, with roast beef and grilled meat, with pâtés, and on a cheese platter. One spoonful turns a pumpkin soup into a feast, and spread on bread, it makes for a hearty snack. It is also wonderful in a pumpkin risotto or over roasted vegetables. Use it sparingly; the pumpkin seed oil is intense.

The Tomato Black Walnut Pesto is darker and rarer. The two pestos are meant to be siblings in variety, sometimes green and nutty, other times dark and earthy. Both can be found in the Pesto & Chutney collection by Fink's Delikatessen.

The whole oil pumpkin from Southern Styria

Behind this pesto lies the Styrian pumpkin culture and a dedicated chef.

Southern Styria is considered the home of the oil pumpkin, with its sandy soils and mild, Mediterranean-influenced climate. Since a mutation documented around 1880, the seeds no longer have a hard shell, only a thin silvery skin – which makes the famous pumpkin seed oil possible. Bettina Fink-Haberl, who founded her manufactory in 2002, processes pulp, seeds, and oil together into pesto in Walkersdorf near Ilz – by hand and without artificial additives.

This way, almost the entire pumpkin ends up in the jar; nothing goes to waste. Fruit, seed, and oil – an entire jar from a single plant. Bettina thinks in terms of raw ingredients, an approach you can taste. You can find more from her kitchen in the entire range of Fink's Delikatessen.

Creamy when stirred with hot pasta water

Once opened, the pumpkin pesto is best kept in the refrigerator.

The jar should be kept cool, and any oil that separates at the top can simply be stirred back in. For pasta, stir a spoonful with a little hot pasta water until creamy, then it coats the noodles perfectly. It is also a pleasure over quickly grilled vegetables. One jar is enough for many plates, as the cream is very economical. Savory, nutty, versatile.