What to do with the pumpkin after Halloween? Recycle it!

The weather and storms wiped out many pumpkin patches all over the US which makes the price of pumpkins go up. Does that mean that there will be no carved pumpkins out this year? Not really, but it does mean that once you're done with the holiday, the smartest thing to do would be to recycle this amazing food and take advantage of what you have on hand.

First, don't let it get moldy. C'mon, this is food after all and waste is never an alternative. Once you're done with it, turn it into a puree which can then be used in breads,  muffins, Pie, Chili and lots of other tasty stuff. Even if bakers tell you these aren't the preferred type of pumpkin for baking, this is still a squash and it's edible and with a little tweeking can be made pretty amazing.

If you're also into fuel efficiency then the most efficient way to obtain your puree is to steam the pumpkin. Take the peel off, cut into chunks and steam it, covered, over boiling water for 25 minutes or so, until it's really tender. If you roast it, another popular method and a very tasty one too, it would take over 2 hours at 400F to get to this point. You can scrape the flesh out of it and put it in a food processor, this works too. 

You've got the tender pieces now but must consider that pumpkins contain lots of liquid so you need to drain that off to get a proper puree, so put fine sieve over a bowl, put the pumpkin on it and let it sit in the fridge overnight or about 8 hours so the liquid will drain out. If you have about 2 pounds of pumpkin, you should have about 1 1/2 cups of puree and 1/2 cup of pumpkin water. You can chill the puree or freeze it for later use, the water can be used in soup, rice or anything you want to add extra flavor to. What are other ways to use your results?

1- Pumpkin Pie, good old fashioned pie (tastes much better than those frozen ones too)
2- Pumpkin Tarts or individual pies
3- Pumpkin Custard
4- Pumpkin Bread and cookies
5- Pumpkin Butter
6- Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
7- Pumpkin Cheesecake
8- Pumpkin Soup, either chilled or hot
9- Pumpkin Pancakes
10- Pumpkin Gingerbread
11- Baked Casseroles
12- Pumpkin Latte, Milkshakes or Spiced Iced Coffee
13- Pumpkin Cream Sauce
14- Pumpkin Mac n' Cheese
15- Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage Butter
16- Spicy Pumpkin Humus

I'm sure you can come up with some too. Plus, don't forget you can eat the seeds too, they're a very popular snack, nutritious and tasty. Just wash them off and dry them well. Put a little oil in a zip lock bag with a little salt, drop them in and shake them up. Put them on a baking sheet and bake at 200F for about 20-30 min, mixing them up every now and then so they are even. You're done and ready to snack!

Take advantage of your pumpkin, make a holiday tradition of it, from the buying to the carving to the eating afterwards, you'll be glad you did! You'll be getting a nutritious and healthy food that's very flavorful, a lovely color and practically free since you've got it already and have used it for the principal use it was intended for, right? If you want to try some or all of these and need recipes, drop me a line and I'll be happy to send some to you.....

Hope your Halloween is safe and happy! Enjoy!