How to Cook Pumpkins

Halloween is only two weeks away, followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas! And what does that mean? Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! This is one of my favorite ingredients during the holidays, and I wish I could enjoy their wonderful flavor all year long.

Pumpkins, along with other Holiday favorites such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and squash are grown during the hot summer days, which means you would be planting during the Spring season, so for now we will focus more on how to cook with them. If you are growing pumpkins in your garden, then you should be harvesting them right about now!

There are several ways to enjoy the sweet flesh of pumpkin. If you are baking with pumpkin, it is usually recommended to use a sweet pumpkin like the Sugar Pie; however I will also use the regular large jack-o-lantern pumpkins (these are the ones you see at the store for carving during Halloween). They are not as sweet as the Sugar Pie pumpkins, but still very delicious, and provide much more!

Here are a few very basic tips on cooking with pumpkin.

Puree: A very common way of cooking with pumpkin, is to puree it and use it in your recipes. It is so tasty when used in cookies, bread or even soup! There are a few ways to puree your pumpkin. The first step is to clean out the pumpkin and scrape out the seeds and stringy part. Keep your seeds, you can roast them later for a tasty snack! Cut your pumpkin in half and place the halves (cut side down) onto a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 45-60 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender. Use a spoon to scrape the flesh from the rind. Place the flesh into a food processor and puree until it's the consistency of apple sauce. You can freeze the puree in the freezer until you are ready to use it! I like to freeze it in 1/4-1/2 cup increments, that way I can just pull out what I need and defrost it!

I also use another method for pureeing my pumpkin. I cut up the pumpkin and steam it until soft, then puree it in a food processor. Click here for this method!

Roasting: Another yummy and easy way to eat pumpkin is to bake or roast it like a squash. Cut your pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy part. Sprinkle with your desired spices and a little olive oil, and bake in the oven at 350 degrees F until tender.

Baking: Stuffing and baking a pumpkin is a fun and impressive way to cook it! Cut the top off the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and stringy part. Fill with your preferred stuffing (maybe something sweet like mashed sweet potatoes, or somethins savory like herb rice!). Cover and bake in the oven at 350 degrees F, usually for about an hour or until the pumpkin begins to soften. Depending on the filling you use, sometimes you may need to bake the pumpkin a little bit in the oven before you fill it, then finish baking after it's filled; but check back for some of my yummy recipes!

These are just a few basic tips on cooking with pumpkin, but please check back for some of my yummy recipes using each of these methods!