Pumpkin question

[swd12422]

I feel silly that I don't know this, but we NEVER used our Halloween pumpkins for anything but Jack-O-Lanterns when I was a kid. (My mom refused to even be present for the "gutting" of the pumpkins, and the seeds were never roasted b/c she couldn't stand the smell....)

Anyway, we got a beautiful pumpkin for DS this year, and DH never carved it! It's been sitting, whole, out on our patio for a few weeks now and while I like to look at it, I also think we should use it before it goes bad (if it's not too late).

So, what do I do? Scoop out the seeds and then chop it up and roast it? Does it need to be peeled first, or after roasting? Can it be used for pumpkin pie, or is this a different kind of pumpkin? (Are there non-edible types that are solely for Halloween carving/decoration? Or are they all edible?)

[chel]

normally 2 different types, eating and carving, though u can eat carving pumpkins seeds

[yeahwhat]

Originally Posted by swd12422

So, what do I do? Scoop out the seeds and then chop it up and roast it? Does it need to be peeled first, or after roasting? Can it be used for pumpkin pie, or is this a different kind of pumpkin? (Are there non-edible types that are solely for Halloween carving/decoration? Or are they all edible?)

Scoop out the seeds and stringy guts, cut the pumpkin up into chunks and either boil or roast. I find roasting adds more flavour. Peel the skin once it's cooked. Roast the seeds too.

[Krisis]

along these same lines, what do you do with the teeny tiny pumpkins? Just cut them up and boil/cook them? Do you have to peel them first and if so, just like with a potato peeler?

OP, I didn't even know you could eat pumpkins until last year. Seriously. I don't know what I thought pumpkin pie was made out of

[swd12422]

Originally Posted by chel

normally 2 different types, eating and carving, though u can eat carving pumpkins seeds

So how do I know if it's edible or just meant for carving? They weren't labeled "decorative" like some of the other things (pepper plants, etc) sometimes are....

[staceychev]

Originally Posted by swd12422

So how do I know if it's edible or just meant for carving? They weren't labeled "decorative" like some of the other things (pepper plants, etc) sometimes are....

I was always told it was just a size thing. The small ones are the ones you want to eat. That being said, the seeds from a large pumpkin are awesome. We didn't do ours this year, which I'm a little sad about!

Or, you could just do what we did last year: let the pumpkin rot along the side of the house and grow a new one next summer!

[seashells]

In my personal experience, while "pie" pumpkins are yummier than "carving" pumpkins, carving pumpkins are perfectly delicious too I've never had a fresh pumpkin that didn't taste good.

While you could, say, peel the pumpkin and chop it into pieces (always an all-day task for me) and, say, steam the chunks - I have come to deal with pumpkin only one way:

Cut in half (in whatever direction you want).
Scoop out seeds. (And save them for roasting).
Place cut-side down on a lightly greased baking dish. If your pumpkin is large you may need 2 dishes, and you may need to rearrange your oven racks to accommodate the height. Bake at 350F until you can easily stick a knife into the side. How long depends on the size of the pumpkin. I'd say it ranges from 30-60 minutes, and I just check every now and then.
When done, take the pumpkin halves out and let cool a little so you can handle them. if you can, turn them over (using oven mitts or something to protect your hands) so the cut side is up, that will help the cooling quite a bit.
Once it's cool enough to handle, take a spoon and scoop out the pumpkin meat right up to the skin. You'll develop a knack for feeling how to scoop so you don't break the skin too much.

Now you have pumpkin. What to do with it? Well, you could make soup or pie or bread, for starters.

The thing about pumpkin pie recipes is that most of them call for canned pumpkin. Canned pumpkin is thicker than fresh. So these recipes usually call for a little water or some other liquid. You don't need to add any water with a fresh pumpkin. I put cream in my pie, but also a little less than a canned pumpkin recipe calls for. I'm willing to post my recipe but I'll have to do it later (it's downstairs and I'll wake everybody up if I go get it).

Use whatever pumpkin you need for a recipe, and freeze the rest in, say, 2 cup portions. Pumpkin freezes great. I ALWAYS freeze part of any pumpkin I roast, and just use the rest later. I don't even have to thaw it when I make soup (just dump it in and heat it up on the stove), though I do have to plan ahead and thaw for pie or bread.

[npl]

Wow! Thanks Seashell - that was a great tutorial on pumpkins. I feel much less intimidated by them now, and even tempted to see if they are selling them off cheap in the supermarket!

[MissMommyNiceNice]

YOu can eat almost any pumpkin except maybe the tiny jacks.

I do mine the same way as seashell, but I put water in the pan and then cover with foil. It steams it out.

I have a recipe for beef stew cooked inside a big ol' pumpkin I'm hoping to try this fall. Your pumpkin will keep most the winter if it doesn't get frost bit. You can keep it in a cool garage or basement. The ol' root cellar idea.

[lucyem]

I grow cheese pumpkins I use for baking. YUMMY I cut them into slabs, take out the seeds and stringy bits and give that to the chickens, then roast the slabs until soft. Then I scrape out the insides. The scraped out skin gets sent to the chickens too. Our chickens love pumpkin I get a fair amount and bake bread and freeze it too. I have not tried it but read once that you can run the pumpkin through a food processor to get the consistency more uniform.

I also grow some jack be little pumpkins I use for decoration, the teeny tiny ones. I never heard that you could eat those. Then I buy 2 regular jack o lantern pumpkins for the kids. With those we usually carve and eat the seeds but this year tossed them to whole to the chickens. This coming year I plan on growing some carving pumpkins too.