Most of the recipes using pumpkin call for "peeling, cutting into chunks, and boiling". Have these recipe mavens ever tried peeling pumpkin, much less cutting it into chunks (and how big are those chunks)? A lady that I've baked bread with taught me a simple and relatively easy way to deal with fresh pumpkin. Cut it in half along the equator, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, turn it upside down on a lipped baking sheet, and bake in a 350 degree oven until the pumpkin collapses. Flip it over, let it cool, and peel off the skin. I puree the pumpkin in a food processor, then freeze it in two cup batches (two cups makes a pie, and is also the correct amount for pumpkin/pecan bread.) Of course, it helps a lot to have someone (hubby) with a sterilized jig saw to cut off the stem and halve the pumpkin. Some guys will go to great lengths and trouble for a nice pumpkin pie!
That is the way I have been cooking pumpkin for years. Leave the stem on while it's cooking and it just slips right off with the skin.
Toni, I'd leave the stem on if it wouldn't interfere with putting the pumpkin half turned over to cool. You are years ahead of me in the pumpkin cooking area!
Great posting MG. I was just looking at pumpkins today in the food store and didn't buy one because I was too daunted by the prospect of peeling and carving it up!
I have LOTS of pumpkin puree in the freezer. My dear husband went to a store for cheese, and came home with two pie pumpkins (they were a bargain and he couldn't pass them up). After preparing those two, he got two more this week. If those pumpkins stay on sale at bargain prices, I may need another freezer! Cayuga, just make sure you put the halves on a baking sheet with four sides. The pumpkins do juice a bit while baking, and could make a mess in your oven.
Mother just cut the pumpkin into squares or serving size pieces,, turned them upright and sprinkled brown sugar cinnamon butter ect and baked about 35 to 40 minutes ! Then we just spooned the interior out to eat it ! Really good !
Years if not decades ago I tried the boiling and it never worked well so I ended up just buying it in the tin. Mostly I prefer fresh stuff and bake it myself etc however in the case of pumpkin I don't use enough to warrant the effort to get it. Baking though is a great idea and had I thought about it years ago when I was growing pumpkins and loved to use everything I grew I'd of been using more of it. Would InstaPots work for cooking down a pumpkin fast? Am thinking the skin would be a problem though (having to peel a raw one).
I plant Hokkaido pumpkins. They are small and we just boil them whole and then cut in half and get the seeds out. We eat the skin along with the rest of the pumpkin. Usually pumpkin soup.
I've been doing it this way for a few years. Not only do I find it much easier, but I find the flavor of baked pumpkin far superior to boiled.
My stepdaughter cuts them in half removes the seeds and strings and fills them with beef stew before baking ! She says its delicious but I have not tried it ! For small pumpkins just cut the top off !
Island Life....cut the pumpkin in half, remove seeds. Put water in the bottom of the pot, pumpkin on the rack and cook for approximate 13 minutes. Or you can cut it in chunks and cook those for about 6-7 minutes.
