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preparing fresh pumpkin

(1 rating)
cyrene avatar
Recipe by
Linda Kauppinen
@cyrene
Greenwood, FL

This is for anyone, from experienced to the inexperienced. For those that want to continue cooking from scratch & for those that are just learning. I myself just love it when I find a new hint or tip that I have never seen or heard of. I have found that the best pumpkins to use are the Heritage Pumpkins as they are the very sweetest. If you can't find a Heritage Pumpkin at the farmers market, the small ones tend to be very sweet. If you don't have pumpkin available you can use Hubbard Squash instead. **Did you know that most of your canned pumpkin in the store is really Hubbard Squash?

►
(1 rating)
yield serving(s)
prep time 30 Min
cook time 1 Hr
method Bake

Ingredients For preparing fresh pumpkin

  • herritage pumpkin or
  • small pumpkins or
  • blue hubbard squash

How To Make preparing fresh pumpkin

  • 1
    BOILING METHOD: Clean and peel pumpkin or squash. Discard seeds and stringy material from inside. Cut into small pieces and boil like potatoes until the pumpkin/squash is soft. Strain after cooking. Puree pumpkin in a blender. (Can be frozen)
  • This is a Heritage Pumpkin
    2
    BAKING METHOD #1: Cut an access hole of about 3-4 inch radius around the stem. Remove this piece, scoop out seeds and stringy material from the inside and discard. Place cleaned pumpkin/squash on a roasting pan or other oven-ready pan with deep sides. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until pumpkin/squash appears to be collapsing and softening. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Scoop out the meat with a large spoon. Discard skin. Puree pumpkin/squash meat in a food processor. **NOTE: this method is much easier than the boiling method above. It goes significantly faster and leaves a fairly dry puree that can be used directly without further concentration. The resulting puree is also more healthy and flavorful since the flavor wasn't boiled out with the vitamins.
  • 3
    BAKING METHOD #2: (my preferred method) NOTE: This is probably overall the best and fastest way to do it! Slice pumpkin/squash in half. Remove all seeds and string. Place both halves on a cookie sheet and place in a 425 degree oven. Cook for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to around room temperature. Scoop out the pumpkin/squash meat with an ice cream scoop. It will be stringy. Chop it up with a Braun hand mixer until it's reasonably chopped. You can't get all the stringiness out with the hand mixer, so when it's processed with the hand mixer, put the result in a food processor and puree it for about 1-2 minutes until all the stringiness is chopped away.
  • 4
    **NOTE: Use any of these methods in your recipes calling for pumpkin or freeze it in 1-2 cup amounts until needed.
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
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