How to Cook and Prepare a Whole Fresh Pumpkin

You bought beautiful fresh pumpkins for Halloween, Thanksgiving or autumn décor. Now you want to use them to make breads, cakes, and cookies or soups, stews or casseroles. Don't let them go to waste. How do you prepare and cook a whole pumpkin? It is an easy process.

Supplies Needed:

Large deep-dish baking pan

Knife (Serrated pumpkin carving knife works best)

Water

Fork or dinner knife

Cutting surface

Directions for Cooking and Preparing the Fresh Pumpkin:

*Rinse off the outside of the pumpkin to get rid of dirt.

*Use the knife and cut the pumpkin into pieces that will fit in your hand. They do not have to be perfect or uniform sizes.

*Place the cut pieces in the large baking pan face down so the skin of the pumpkin is on top, the pulpy part is down against the pan.

*Fill the pan with cut pumpkin pieces leaving a small amount of space between each cut piece of pumpkin.

*Fill the baking pan with 1" to 1 ½ "of water.

*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once it is preheated, put the pan of cut up pumpkin pieces and water in the oven.

*Cook for 60 to 70 minutes until the meat of the pumpkin is soft enough to poke deep and easily with a fork or dinner knife. When it is done, remove the cooked pumpkin from the oven and let it cool.

*Once the pumpkin is cooled, peel the skin off with a sharp knife.

*Then dice the meat of the pumpkin into cubes.

*For stew or casseroles, leave the pumpkin diced. For pie, cookies and bread you can either mash up the cooked pumpkin if you want it to have more texture in your baked goods or put it in a blender to make a pumpkin puree. Use immediately or freeze for future use.

*Repeat the process until all the pumpkin is cut and cooked.

Safety Tip:

*When you open the oven door to test the readiness of the pumpkin, do not put your face near the door as you open it. Hot steam will come out the oven door. Once the initial blast of steam comes out, then poke the meat of the pumpkin to test for readiness.