Pumpkins are great aren’t they! We are coming up to Halloween, and like me, I’m sure many of you will be buying, or already have bought pumpkins to carve into all kinds of scary sculptures. I’ve seen some very inventive ones already!
This year we went to the pumpkin farm to get our pumpkins, which is great fun as the kids can pick their own there are all kinds of weird and wonderful shapes and colours, and they had a few spooky displays as well which was great fun.
The problem with going to the pumpkin farm is, the kids pick too many, so what are we going to do with them all? Well, if like me you’ve got too many pumpkins, or you want to use some of the pumpkins you have carved, then read on for why I think pumpkins are great!
Number 1
The first great thing about pumpkins is the one we all know well. They are great fun to carve, pop candles in, and decorate inside and outside the house all spooky for Halloween.
Number 2
The second great thing about pumpkins is, almost the whole thing is edible! The skin, the flesh and the seeds! We usually scoop out most of the flesh and the seeds when we carve pumpkins, but the seeds are really tasty when they are roasted, and they are packed full of goodness. BBC food have some great recipes for using up those discarded pumpkin seeds Pumpkin seed recipes | BBC Good Food.
Number 3
The third great thing about pumpkins is they are such a versatile vegetable. You can make both savoury and sweet foods with them, such as soups, pies, stews, and so on. Try my pumpkin soup with chestnut dumplings recipe. It’s great for a cold winters evening.
Number 4
The fourth great thing about pumpkins is that they freeze really well. Try chopping it into large chunks, par boil them, put into freezer bags once cooled, and pop in the freezer until you want to try a delicious pumpkin recipe. Just google one! There’s loads!
Number 5
The fifth great thing about pumpkins is that they are good for you! They are a great source of fibre, vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium and beta carotene which is converted into Vitamin A. The seeds are high in fibre, and contain protein and iron. What’s not to love?
How do you eat pumpkins?
The skin: You can drizzle this with oil and crisp up in a hot oven. It can then be added to almost any dish to give a crunchy texture. The skin however can be quite hard and pose a choking risk to younger ones, so I would suggest blending roasted pumpkin skin into a powder which can then be added to purees or porridge.
The seeds: These can be washed and patted dry, then drizzled with oil and roasted in the oven until golden and crispy. You can add spices for extra flavour, but again don’t give to the younger ones whole as they are hard and can pose a choking threat. They are a good source of fibre, protein and iron however, and so blending these into a powder, and adding to meals can boost the nutritional content of foods.
The flesh: This is really versatile and can be steamed, boiled, roasted, or barbecued. It can be added to meals such as curries, stews, salads, pasta, risotto, chilli, and ragu, or baked into sweet dishes such as cakes and pumpkin pie.