After all of your hard work in the garden, don’t let those pretty pumpkins go to waste. Whether you grew them for fall decorations or food, learning how to roast a pumpkin is an easy way to preserve them!
Why roast your pumpkins?
For the pumpkin puree of course! If you decided to grow pumpkins in your garden this year, don’t let them go to waste. They are nutritious for you and your animals.
By roasting pumpkins, you spoon out the delicious meat of the pumpkins for cooking. It’s a very easy process, and especially fun to do with your kids. Not only that, but your animals can eat all of the pumpkin seeds left over.
Pumpkin seeds make an excellent natural dewormer for your livestock. This is because they contain cucurbitacin. This is an anti-parasitic compound that has been found to expel tapeworm and roundworm. My chickens love them and my goats will actually eat a whole pumpkin if it’s broken open for them.
What can I do with pumpkin puree?
All the things! Just like the canned pumpkin you would find at the store, you can use pumpkin puree for baking pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin soup. You can add it to oatmeal or a smoothie and SO MUCH MORE!
On top of it’s versatility in cooking and baking, pumpkin is very nutritious. It is chock full of vitamin A, but also high in vitamins K and E. It also contains potassium, magnesium and iron.
So what type of pumpkin should you be roasting? All pumpkin varieties are edible, but some are better than others for cooking. Pie pumpkin varieties are your best bet to get the most meat. They are usually sweeter than other varieties too.
However, there are some pumpkins that are good for both carving and baking. Giant pumpkin varieties are probably the least palatable since they have been bred for size, not meat or flavor.
Below is a photo of three different varieties of small pie pumpkins I grew this year. I had Sugar Pie pumpkins, Winter Luxury pumpkins and Creole pumpkins (my new favorite!) I also grew Long Island Cheese pumpkins, but they aren’t in the photo.
How to grow pumpkins
Growing pumpkins isn’t difficult, but they do require a good amount of space. Pie pumpkin varieties such as Sugar Pie don’t take up as much room, but you will still need around 3′- 4′ feet between each plant.
Another option to grow pumpkins that doesn’t take up much space is to grow them vertically. Again, this works best with smaller varieties. While I haven’t tried this myself, I would imagine that it’s very similar to growing melons or rampicante squash up a trellis.
Plant pumpkin seeds in mounds with 2-3 seeds in each mound. Water well and mulch well. Pumpkins like warm weather so it’s best to plant after danger of frost is long gone. Pumpkins like a lot of water and fertile rich soil as well.
Another consideration is the long growing time it takes for pumpkins to mature. Some varieties can take up to 120 days before they are ready. If you have a short growing season, you may need to start varieties like this inside and then transplant out.
How to roast a pumpkin
Roasting a pumpkin is a simple and fun process. It’s easier than carving one!
- First wash off your pumpkins. You don’t have to be meticulous, just get any dirt off.
- Remove the stem if you can, and slice the pumpkin in half. This is easy with small pumpkins, but may take more elbow grease with larger pumpkins.
- Remove the “guts” or the seeds and fibrous parts that surround them.
- Coat the bottom with coconut oil or avocado oil. Place bottom down on a pan.
- Pierce the skin with a fork a few times and roast at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
- Remove and let cool. Once your pumpkin pieces are cool, scoop out all of the meat and discard the skin.
- Run the meat through a food processor or a blender to get a smooth texture.
That’s it! Now you can either freeze your puree or put it straight into a pie or pumpkin bread, you name it! If you wan’t to learn more ways of using up your harvest, read my articles on cooking with sweet potato leaves here or using lemongrass here. Thanks so much for stopping by!
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