Yesterday, I blogged about getting a pumpkin with the intention of cooking it up and pureeing it for baking. And while yesterday turned out to be a HUGE day even without the shop and the pumpkin, I’m really pleased to say I got it done!!! š
I’m not AT ALL saying my way is the way, but this is what I did!
I washed the outside of the pumpkin really good, and I cut it in half.
I cut the stem off and scooped out all the innards. I thought using one of those spaghetti spoons would be the perfect answer to getting it all out of their really good, but it just kind of combed the pulp š A basic spoon was better.
Then I just oiled cookie sheets, put the pumpkin halves upside down, and cooked it to death.
I checked after a half hour, and it was not tender yet. But at around 45-50 minutes, it was fork tender.
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I abandoned the pumpkin to go pick up the kids from school, and when we came back, I got back to work. So did Dekker š He helped me prep a bit of food for camp, and I worked on the pumpkin!
The first half of the pumpkin was an especially messy one to get out of its shell, but I found a better method and the second half went much smoother. I’d put the pieces into my blender as I went, and once it was full-ish, I’d blend the heck out of it. Then add it to the big bowl, and keep at it. And it produced a TON!!! Doesn’t the pumpkin shell look like leather??
I scooped the pumpkin into two cup measurements, as thats about what a can of pumpkin from the grocery store holds.
And then I bagged them up!!
One pumpkin provided me with 15 cups of pureed pumpkin.
Therefore…
15 cups for $4
Or
15 ounces for $6.50
Guys, if I could make a living selling pumpkin puree, I would. I would absolutely LOVE to process pumpkins all the time, it was SO fun for me! I may have to go buy another one, just for funsies, so I have excess or some to offer out. Coming into autumn, the time is perfect for pumpkin!! Think pies, cookies, loaves, muffins, coffee, etc. You name it!!