Pumpkins for Cooking

I received this comment from Chris in the Pumpkin Pie post,

“On the subject of pumpkins, why is it that in several recent pumpkin recipes I see squash as the ingredient instead of pumpkin? Also, as one who hates to waste, I know that pie pumpkins are more flavourful but does nobody use the flesh of the larger pumpkins anymore? There’s such an abundance of them and the value/cost is great. How about some suggestions for use.”

The only suggestion I have for using those large punpkins is to get a knife and carve a face in it! They are just too watery and fiberous to be good for any cooking application. The large jack-o-lantern type pumpkins are bred to grow big and look showy, they are not designed for eating. You can eat them if you like, but they have little flavour and will add alot of liquid if you are using the flesh in a recipe. However, pie or sugar pumpkins have great flavour and can be cooked as you would any hard or winter squash. Not only do they make great pies, but you can serve them steamed as a vegetable, stuffed and baked, made into a soup, pureed and used as a filling for ravioli or made into a cheesecake. The value/cost on small pumpkins is also pretty good.

Sorry I’m putting a full stop on your jack-o-lantern feast Chris, try using it as a soup toureen!

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