Question about fresh pumpkin

[bluegrassmom]

Ok, first off yes I know Halloween is over and I'm about to brand myself a hopeless procrastinator. But so be it. About two weeks ago my son picked out this huge pumpkin from the bin at wally world to carve for Halloween. Well, it's still not carved. But he is still intent on doing it so now it's November and I'm about to carve a Jack'o'Lantern. But the thing is, I don't know if these big pumpkins are any good for cooking. I know about the little pie pumpkins but not these big daddy ones. If I can use the inside meat for breads and such, I'd like to do that because I abhor waisting food. But if the flavor in the big ones is no good then I'll likely split it between the dogs and the compost. Any ideas?

[Peaceful]

I'm looking forward to hearing the answer to this, too.

One year I had a pumpkin setting on the picnic table for ages. I thought "My this pumpkin is lasting a long time!" until I went to move it and it just sort of fell apart. Then I got the bright idea to compost it. The next spring I got a nice little pumpkin patch that produced about 5 fine pumpkins.

[farmgirlwannabe]

First of all, make sure you have one that is firm, no bruises or soft spots, and a good orange color. The flavor, texture, water and sugar content are different in a "regular" pumpkin vs. a pie pumpkin. It can be done though. If you are using a regular Jack O' Lantern type pumpkin, you may need to add about 25% more sugar and run the cooked pumpkin through a blender or food processor to help smooth it out. Let your pumpkin puree sit for 30 minutes and drain off any excess water that comes to the top.

 

As a matter of fact, many kinds of commercially canned pumpkin pie filling is actually a form of butternut, not a true pumpkin.

 

Hope that helps.

[ScrubbieLady]

I use the large pumpkins. After Halloween(the cheapest time to get pumpkins if you have to pay), I get them, slice in half, scoop out seeds and strings and bake cut side down until they are soft and tender. Then I peel, mash, drain and measure out into 2C packages and freeze. This is what I use to make pumpkin bread with the normal recipe. I never alter the recipe.

[Canned Nerd]

All I'm interested in are the seeds, to be roasted and eaten.

 

[gofish]

The warty ones you can slice thin and grill with rosemary and olive oil.

 

 

[Annarchy]

We salt & dry the seeds, while saving some for planting. Cut the rest up and blanch it. Remove the skin, puree some of it for pumpkin pies (Thanksgiving & Christmas), bake some of it, & freeze some of it. When my papa was still here, he'd be waiting for his pumpkin pie the day after Halloween.

 

 

 

 

[Leah]

I boil chunks, then treat them as ScrubbieLady does, except I use the puree in cakes.