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Pumpkins are a huge part of the Halloween experience. We
exhume the contents of our pumpkins and carve spirited faces into their walls
for delightfully festive jack-o-lanterns. But what we do with the insides and
the actual jack-o-lantern at the end of the season is often tragically
wasteful. More often than not we toss our pumpkin guts, seeds and later on the
actual jack-o-lantern into our household trash causing a huge volume increase
in our household waste. With a little forethought though, a pumpkin can be much
more beneficial to our environment and our tummies. Below are some suggestions
for what to do with your pumpkin—all of it—both before and after Halloween.
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… to
Use the pumpkin gooheyest parts in your kitchen right away. Start
by separating out the seeds. Roasting the seeds is very easy. There are many
different spice combinations to appeal to different palettes. Simple
instructions are as follows:
Roast the seeds for 20-30 minutes in a 375-degree oven with
or without salt and pepper seasoning or add a few tablespoons of butter or
olive oil and add sweet combination of brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg or a
southwestern combination of salt, chili powder, cayenne and cumin. Another
suggestion for using up your seeds is to make a pumpkin seed brittle.
Pureeing the goohey innards makes for a delicious pumpkin soup
or risotto. Baked or boiled pumpkins can be mashed for butters, pies, breads
and other baked goods or just mixed with maple syrup or brown sugar for a seasonal
side dish.
Other uses for your pumpkin after you have carved it include
spreading the seeds for birds, squirrels and wildlife or adding the pumpkin
guts and jack-o-lantern to the compost pile where they can decompose and add
nutrients to your garden for next year.
The key is to think before you toss. Keep all parts of the pumpkin
out of the landfill.
See more recipe ideas at Gothamist.
Rotting Jack-o-lantern patch image created by Robin
Blackstone by morphing the following images from Shutterstock:
Base
photo, jack-o-lantern
on white, isolated
jack-o-lantern, and jack-o-lantern
alone.
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