Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Baking Pumpkin. Smells Like Fall

Well, it's time to start baking pumpkin again for all those great fall recipes. My pumpkins were almost non-existent this year. I harvested one small sugar pumpkin. Between the gophers eating the seeds before they even sprouted and our neglect of the garden, I though I wouldn't be able to have fresh pumpkin this year. But thanks to my son-in-law Tim's parents, I have about nine good size pumpkins to bake. Thank you Steve & Lori!
Here is a past blog about the baking process...

Baking Pumpkin

Last night I decided to bake another pumpkin. The pumpkins I grew are the same as Libby's uses for their filling. They are called Dickinson Select. My daughter's inlaws grow pumpkins for Libby's in Illinois, but I saved the seed I have from a pumpkin I received at the local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) last year. Ended up with 15 large pumpkins.

I gave away about half of them & have been baking & freezing the rest. These are not your average, everyday carving pumpkins. They have the thickest pulp. And big seeds.So, how do you bake a pumpkin? First cut off the top then slice down the sides into pieces. Scrape the stringy part & seeds off of the pulp. I use a grapefruit spoon to make it easier.
Place the chunks face down on a baking sheet & place in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for about an hour & a half (depends on the thickness of the pulp).

When done baking, flip the slices over to cool. Then take a spoon and scrape the pulp off off the skin. This is how much pulp is from that one pumpkin. This is two baking sheets worth.
Yes, that is almost 9 pounds of pumpkin pulp from one pumpkin! I do have a lot of pies to bake this year (eight all together) but there will still be a lot left. And what about all the other pumpkins we have? Here's what I do. I measure out either 2 or 4 cups into a freezer bag & flatten. You can store a lot of these bags this way. They are easy to thaw for your recipes for soup, cookies, pies, cakes, breads or whatever else you can think of to do with pumpkin. With pie being my favorite, soup is a close second. Just add pumpkin pie spice and milk (I use oat or hemp milk) and blend for a minute then heat.
Don't forget about the seeds. Rinse off most of the goo, toss with a little olive oil and sea salt, bake at 325 for 20 minutes & you have a great snack. The only things wasted are the skin (and the stem).

10 comments:

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi barb...i had to buy all of my pumpkins as well. i have another giveaway going on so if you want to enter just check it out!

Anonymous said...

Weell Pheeey, my computer says they can't access that web site. rats...and here I was wondering about baking pumpkins! ...debbie

Barb said...

Thanks Jaz!
Hi Debbie...I posted it again...don't know why the link didn't work :-(

Anonymous said...

I recently purchased 9 local homegrown cooking pumpkins and was wondering exactly what to do. Thanks for sharing how to cook a pumpkin and save the excess.

Sue said...

I bet the kitchen smells great! I love the smell of things baking in the oven.
My pumpkins didn't turn out this year either, but my friend in NW IL saved me a bunch. Thanks for posting the "how-to"!

Anonymous said...

Barb!! I can't believe you got 9 lbs of pumplin from just one pumpkin! But your pumpkins are pretty big! My goodness you sure are industrious! wow! Great Instructions! Might just have to try it, you make it look really easy! then I guess you make pumpkin pies or cakes! right?...debbie

Barb said...

Hi Debbie...I do make pies, soups, pumpkins bars..everything I can think of :-)
Your welcome Sue & Barbara

Anonymous said...

I baked mt pumpkins per your instructions and have except I just cut mine in half and set face down on pan. I now have lots of pumpkin for cooking and nine bags in the freezer. After scraping the pumpkins I gave the skins to the chickens and ducks and they loved it. Stems went into the compost pile.

Carol............. said...

Although I grow other winter squash I've never grown pumpkins before...will certainly do so next year since I've run into many good recipes lately...
thanks for sharing the cooking tips.

Barb said...

Barbara...can't wait to have some chickens to feed it to! :-)
Your welcome Carol!