More About Pumpkin!
Our “Field to Fork” website has information about a variety of fruits and vegetables. Visit www.ag.ndsu.edu/fieldtofork and click around to learn more about a lot of different produce items.
Do you know how to prepare or preserve pumpkin to enjoy later? You might be surprised at how tasty a pumpkin pie made with fresh pumpkin is!
How do you prepare a fresh pumpkin?
To bake pumpkin, rinse the pumpkin under running water, then cut it in half, discarding the stem and stringy pulp. Save the seeds for roasting if desired. Spray a shallow baking sheet with cooking spray, and place both halves face down on the sheet and cover with foil. Bake at 375 F for about 1½ hours or until tender. Smaller pieces will cook faster. After the pumpkin has cooled, you can scoop out the flesh and mash, chop or puree it for use in recipes. You also can freeze the pulp in recipe-sized amounts for later use.
How do you preserve pumpkin?
Freezing: Freezing is the easiest way to preserve pumpkins. Wash, cut into chunks and remove seeds. Cook until soft in boiling water or bake in an oven, as described earlier. Remove the pulp and mash. Package cooked pumpkin in recipe-sized amounts in freezer containers or bags labeled with the contents and date. Leave ½ inch of head space. Seal and freeze.
Canning: Pumpkin chunks may be canned in a pressure canner, but for safety reasons, you should not can mashed pumpkin. Peel the cooked pumpkin and cut it into small cubes.
Follow current pressure canning procedures for canning pumpkin in the NDSU Extension publication “Home Canning Low-acid Vegetables” (FN173; www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications/food-nutrition/home-canning-low-acid-vegetables/fn173.pdf).
