Preserving Pumpkin

lcertuche

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Last year I scored some pumpkins for $1 a piece. I only got two and I really regretted I didn't get more. I ended up cooking them in my giant electric roaster (kind of like a huge crock pot). Just used a hammer and my big ole butcher knife to slice through the center. I cooked until a fork could pierce the skin.

I always roast the seeds separately on a cookie sheet.

I ended up with 13 or 14 quart bags of pumpkin puree. A real bargain for $2 considering canned pumpkin was over a buck a piece in the stores.

This year I'm thinking I will dehydrate some pumpkin if I can get some more bargains. It takes up less room and re-hydrates nicely.

Now my favorite ways to eat pumpkin: pies, muffins, ravioli, enchiladas, smoothies, soup... Oh, what am I saying, any recipe using pumpkin is my favorite!
 

lcertuche

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I thought I would do an update on my dehydrated pumpkin. I've actually used it in a couple of things lately. One is muffins which my family loves anything muffins and the other was sort of a crustless pumpkin pie which is really quick to throw together.

I do re-hydrate the pumpkin first. It is easy enough to do. I just put it in a 2-cup measuring cup and fill it to the 1-cup mark. Pour boiling water up to the 2-cup mark and let it sit for 20 or 30 minutes. You could probably just put tap water over and sit in the refrigerator overnight. It turns out great! You can't tell it was like leather minutes before and a half gallon jar is far easier to store than a few pumpkins.
 

tortoise

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Curious as to why you guys are "preserving" pumpkins? We picked ours and put them in the basement. They keep pretty well, even in our "hot" basement from wood furnace.

I think canning pumpkin was 90 minutes processing time with pressure canner? and in chunks, not puree so have to do bigger jars with longer processing time. It didn't seem worth the resources to process. I might process if our basement pumpkins aren't keeping well, although I'm more likely to throw them to the chickens. We ended up with SO much pumpkin and squash this year, we'll be sharing with the livestock!
 

sumi

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I bought a butternut squash ages ago when I had a craving for some. The craving promptly disappeared, so I put the squash in the kitchen and am keeping an eye on it to see how long it takes so show signs of "eat me, or.." So far it's looking fine. Storing vegetables in this wet climate is interesting. Everything either goes mouldy fast or tries to grow. I've never seen a head of cabbage grow before o_O I noticed these leaves suddenly show up behind it on the shelf one day.. Oops.
 

Mini Horses

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Pumpkins are loaded with good nutrition, esp the seeds. I throw excess to all the animals and walking thru the "old" pig pen yesterday, I find about 50 volunteer tomato plants!! Crap! not gonna be able to use this late in year but I sure WANT to dig & pot! Have some good feed pumpkin seeds but so wet this Spring that nothing got planted. Not even a lonely tomato!!

Hoping we all have a better Spring next year. I think many had a garden bust this year and we sure need to re-supply the jars. So miss the fresh veggies to pick -- and toss to the animals.

Hoping to pick up some "excess/rejects" from some local pumpkin fields in next month. Several around. Gotta get out there & talk to the owners.
 

lcertuche

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I guess that idea comes from the same people that say chickens can't eat tomatoes, lol.

Seriously I wonder how much seeds would be comparable to extract. This is one crop that is easily grown and stores well. In the 'olden days' farmers grew a lot of garden type crops to feed their livestock in the winter.

The big companies are moving away from antibiotics, by using more natural ingredients like oregano. I wonder if it is in extract form or just leaves fed in their feed.
 

lcertuche

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That bread sounds yummy Beekissed. I make muffins from a box of chocolate cake mix and 1 1/2 cups (or a can) of pumpkin puree. It is so moist and yummy. Could probably be made from any kind or flavor of mix. It doesn't taste like pumpkin at all though.

I just picked up 6 good size pumpkins at the store marked down to a $1 per pumpkin. I already have on in my big electric roaster. I hope to have it ready to cut up and put in the dehydrator tonight and put another in the roaster before bedtime. DH already has dreams of pie and more pies in his future, lol.
 

tortoise

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Oh this is brilliant! So much easier that canning cubes of pumpkin!

I might try it today if I have any good pumpkin or squashes left. They started dropping like flies in April.
 

sumi

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I haven't been able to get good pumpkins here, except before and after Halloween, and those are not great IMO. I asked someone coming over from South Africa to bring me some pumpkin seeds, I hope he does! If so I will give this a shot once I have a crop grown.
 

valmom

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I am putting in many pumpkin and butternut plants this year. I love winter squashes, and I have found that butternut stores pretty well into January in my basement. The dehydrated pumpkin sounds like a great idea. I love squash/pumpkin soup and it would be perfect!
 

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