What to do with leftover pumpkin?

[Weather Girl]

Drove by a pumpkin patch today, and they had all the leftover pumpkins by the side of the road for FREE!!!! I swear, there were at least 500 pumpkins left, no joke. Plus, 20-30 bales of hay, also free. Kindof wished I had a truck and a friend with a farm, would have been great! Also would have been nice to grab, like, 30, and use them as a classroom art project for Thanksgiving or something, alas, no teacher friends either.

As it was, I grabbed 5 large pumpkins figuring with the canned pumpkin shortage, I'd make some of my own filling/puree. Problem- I have no idea how to do this.... Any suggestions? Or, thoughts of how to use the pumpkins in general? Can I freeze any of it?

[almadee]

I'm sooo far from a pumpkin expert but I was thinking maybe if you cut them up and cook them and then you can probably freeze it that way, maybe??? I think I would cut it up into cubes and maybe parboil them so that you have the option of doing different things with it when you decide to take some from the freezer. I freeze so many things that I'm just thinking, why not pumpkin too? I hope this helped a little(probably not, right?)

[love free Bzs]

I cleaned the pumpkin with water cut in chunks then stamed it until tender you can also microwave until tender the remove skin and puree in food processor then you can use or freeze and use later I usually freeze 1 cup or 2 cups together. here is a place to get some receipes wellI better not post here I will send in private maessage.

[Weather Girl]

Good suggestions! Does anyone that stores veggies often have tips as to how best to cook then store the pumpkin innards? I've never stored frozen veggies (other than the ones you buy!) I'm not even sure how to "blanch" or "parboil."

[Sylvia]

Originally Posted by Weather Girl

Good suggestions! Does anyone that stores veggies often have tips as to how best to cook then store the pumpkin innards? I've never stored frozen veggies (other than the ones you buy!) I'm not even sure how to "blanch" or "parboil."

blanching is simple... basically it's dipping the veg in boiling hot water for about 30secs-1min and then putting it in Ice water immediately afterwards. It kills any bacteria but retains the crunch of fresh veg.

Parboiling is "pre-cooking" by boiling it in water. I've only ever seen that done with tough cuts of meat and potatoes, though. For example the shredded potatoe hashbrowns for breakfast in a restaurant are pre-cooked by parboiling before they are shredded. If you shred a raw potato and try to fry it, it turns into an ugly grey mass of goo like sludge. NASTY!

[rube_h30]

hello
wow wish I could have some of them! lol

I helped my aunt one year and she just cut them open, take out the seeds and baked them till soft and then we took them out of the oven and got some big spoons and scooped out the good stuff. it was alot of fun! then we put them in jars and pressure canned them but if you don't have access to a pressure canner just freeze it. I probably would do 1-2 cup measurements because often that what recipes call for. good luck!

[Weather Girl]

Thank you both so much I'll cook them off tonight and get to freezing... unless anyone in LA will let me borrow their canner!

[mommaof3]

Originally Posted by Sylvia

Parboiling is "pre-cooking" by boiling it in water. I've only ever seen that done with tough cuts of meat and potatoes, though. For example the shredded potatoe hashbrowns for breakfast in a restaurant are pre-cooked by parboiling before they are shredded. If you shred a raw potato and try to fry it, it turns into an ugly grey mass of goo like sludge. NASTY!

So that's the secret...thanks, Sylvia...yes I've found this out from trial and error, unfortunately.

[mommaof3]

I guess you can eat all pumpkins, not just the sugar pumpkins? I never tried eating our halloween ones. Love using canned pumpkin in bread and cookies though.

[granviewgran]

Pumpkin is also good as animal feed. Deer, cows etc like to eat them.

Also I feed my dogs some once in a while. Either cooked puree or even small raw pieces. They LOVE it. It has lots of vitamins and fiber in it.

You can also bake it like squash and put butter and/or brown sugar on it.

To make puree for breads, cookies or pies. Clean out the guts and seeds, cut the outer shell into pieces, put the pieces skin side up in a large pan with about 1/2 inch of water in it. Bake at 300 until the pumpkin gets soft (test by poking with a fork) depending on how much pumpkin and how big the pieces are it can take up to an hour or more. When it is soft scrape the flesh away from the skin. Mash it with a potato masher or puree in a processor. I like to drain some of the water out of mine before freezing it in bags. I measure out 1 or 2 cups per zip lock bag.

HTH