Have Your Halloween Jack O'Lantern and Eat It Too!

Do you like pumpkin pie? How about pumpkin bread? Most people do... and most people buy pumpkins in October (when the greatest number of pumpkins are harvested), carve them for jack o'lanterns and throw them away when Halloween decorations are put away.

And then ... they buy canned pumpkin for Thanksgiving and Christmas pies or other desserts.

Let's put the two together.

You can use your Halloween jack o'lantern for Thanksgiving pumpkin pies (or whatever else you want to make with it). Not only will it save you money, fresh pumpkin tastes better than canned. Even if you carve a pumpkin for Halloween, it will keep several days. You can easily see if the flesh is still good or if it's started to go bad by how firm it is. You can cut around the bad part and still use the good part.

The Right Pumpkin

Choose a general purpose pumpkin rather than one grown especialy for jack o'lanterns. They won't be as large, and they may not be shaped as perfectly, but they'll taste better. You can buy pie pumpkins if you prefer - they're smaller, but you can still carve them for Halloween.

Pumpkins grown for Halloween jack o'lanterns can be huge, but the flesh is usually tasteless and often stringy. White pumpkins are very poor food, so don't choose those if you intend to eat them later.

Carving

When you carve your pumpkin, save the seeds. Wash and clean them, then put them to soak overnight in salt water. Drain and roast them slowly (about 250 degrees) until they're completely dry and very lightly browned. (This will take several hours.) That's the first part of good eating you can get from your jack o'lantern!

If you want to save as much pumpkin as possible, think about painting a face on it instead of carving one. If you want a lighted jack o'lantern, though, you'll have to carve it. Use a sharp knife and a lot of care. Make clean, straight cuts to make it easier to trim later.

Preparation and Freezing

When Halloween is over, slice your pumpkin down the center and trim around the carved out areas. Use a spoon to scrape the inside clean and put the pieces, flesh side down, in a large, flat pan in which you've added an inch or so of water. Bake the pumpkin at 350 degrees until it's tender (45 minutes to an hour) then remove from the oven and allow it to cool.

Cut away the rind and put the pumpkin pieces in a blender or mash by hand until it's very smooth, then freeze in one cup portions. You can use this in pies, cakes, breads or any other recipe that calls for canned pumpkin. Remember that one cup is 16 ounces, so check the can size that your recipe calls for and measure your frozen pumpkin accordingly.

There, now. You have "free" pumpkin for the best Thanksgiving pies you've ever made!