Pumpkins are synonymous with Halloween, and we find them in all shapes and sizes, and in many avatars, painted, plain, or carved into scary jack o’ lanterns, decorating our homes and yards. But the end of the season finds a whole lot of them joining the compost pile. Carved ones, often dried-up and rotten, have nowhere else to go, but the whole ones can be put to better use.
Native Americans traditionally used every part of these thick-skinned fruits as food. The pilgrims too followed suit. The following Pilgrim verse (1633) stands testimony to the important role pumpkins played in their lives:
“For pottage and puddings and custards and pies
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies,
We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon
If it were not for pumpkins we should be undoon.”
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Here are some edible and non-edible items to make maximum use of pumpkins this fall:
1. Home-made pumpkin puree
This is the basic ingredient in many pumpkin recipes. Cut whole pumpkins into halves, and bake them cut side down at 3000F until the flesh is tender. Remove the flesh and liquidize it. Use this puree for pies, puddings and cakes. Freeze the rest for future use.
2. Pumpkin spread
Cook chunks of the pumpkin flesh with brown sugar and cinnamon sticks. Adjust the sugar to your own taste. Mash it into a paste after removing the cinnamon sticks. Add a little butter in a heavy-bottom pan and add the mashed pumpkin. Cook well and store in glass bottles when cool. Try this spread in sandwiches in place of peanut butter and jelly.
3. Crystallized Pumpkin bits
Cut the pumpkin flesh into small bits. Dry them out in the oven or in the dehydrator until the outside is dry but the inside is still soft. Mix in a spoonful of thick sugar syrup and then drench in icing sugar.
4. Roasted seeds
Pumpkin seeds are rich in zinc and antioxidants. Never waste them, even those from the carved ones. Wash and dry them. Spread on buttered baking trays, and roast for 15 minutes, turning them a few times for even cooking. Store them in airtight containers when cool.
5. Bird seed cakes
If you cannot eat all the seeds, share them with the winged friends. Mix pumpkin seeds with sunflower seeds and some smaller bird seeds. Bind the mixture with lard, or melted gelatin, to make balls. Hang them on tree branches, and watch the birds feast on them.
6. Pumpkin skin crackers
If you don’t want to throw away even the pumpkin skin, here’s an excellent way to use them. Slice the skin off tender pumpkins after washing them thoroughly. Arrange them flesh-side up on baking trays. Sprinkle sea salt and curry powder on them and dry them out in the oven or in the food dehydrator. Remove when dry and crisp. Store them in air-tight containers when cool. On wintry evenings you can have a spicy snack by toasting these dried chips in the oven after spreading them on buttered trays and spraying a little oil over them.
7. Hanging decoration and room freshener
Small decorative pumpkins are not of much use in the kitchen. Extend their use by sticking cloves into them to make a hanging decoration similar to apple pomanders.
They will stay fresh for quite some time, adding a bit of fragrance to the air.
8. Face mask and exfoliating scrub
Some of the pumpkin puree can be used for beauty treatments. Add a bit of coconut oil for dry skin, or mix with egg for oily skin. Apply on the face, or all over the body; keep for about 20 minutes and wash off.
Add a few spoons of brown sugar or oatmeal to the puree to enhance exfoliation. Rub it on, in circles, to remove the dead cells. The antioxidants and vitamins in the pumpkins will rejuvenate the skin.
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