Five Sustainable Uses for Decorative Pumpkins
It’s that time of year again when you start itching to buy a big ol’ pumpkin to sit on your doorstep. Unfortunately, it’s supes easy to let these decorative pumpkins go to waste.
They look good for a while, but before you know it they’re rotting in your front yard and you have no choice but to throw them in the trash. Luckily, I have 5 hot tips to help you put your decorative punkins to good use.
Carve the Pumpkin
This might seem a little strange, but letting your freak flag fly with some pumpkin carving is actually a sustainable option for decorative pumpkins. Rather than letting all those innards go to waste, you can carve them out and put them to good use. When you carve, just make sure you get out all the seeds, guts and flesh and then follow the tips below.
Roast the Pumpkin seeds
Roasting pumpkin seeds is super yummy, super easy, and ensures that your seeds won’t go to waste. After you carve into your pumpkin, just scrape out all the insides and put them in a big bowl. Then, separate the guts and the seeds into two separate bowls.
After your pumpkin parts are separated, preheat your oven to 300 F. Lightly coat your seeds in oil, salt, pepper and any other seasonings you like. Then arrange them on a naked or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until nice and crunchy.
Use the Pumpkin Guts in veggie stock
After you separate your guts from your seeds, you can freeze the guts to use in a vegetable stock. I recommend adding these to other frozen veggie scraps to make a more flavorful broth. Decorative pumpkins aren’t really meant to be flavorful, so adding them to other vegetable scraps will give you a better broth.
Every time you chop veggies, just add your scraps to a bag or plastic container in the freezer. Once you’ve accumulated a few cups of vegetable scraps, simply boil your frozen vegetables in water for a few hours and then strain them out so you’re left with a beautiful broth. You can use this stock to make soup or just drink it plain and hot when you have a cold.
Bake the Pumpkin Flesh
After carving your pumpkin, roast the flesh scraps for about 45 minutes or until they get a little golden around the edges. If your scraps are on the small side, start checking them around 25 minutes. After baking, remove the skin and blend up the flesh in a food processor until smooth.
Like I mentioned before, decorative pumpkins are not usually meant to be flavorful. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use their puree in baking. Sugar and spices can cover a world of hurt in pie or dessert bars. Another option: add this puree to quick breads or muffins to make them extra moist.
Compost the Pumpkin Remains
After the season is all said and done, it’s time to bid your jack-o-lantern farewell. The most sustainable way to get rid of your pumpkin is to turn it in to compost. If you have a small home composter, it might be wise to cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces first, but if you’re giving it to a community composter you can just leave it whole and send it off. Voila! Pumpkins made sustainable.