Are carving pumpkins edible?

[StrawHat]

Sainsburys only had little ones in the veg racks, so I bought one from the haloween aisle. Am I about to poison the in-laws?

[LoveInAColdGrave]

I find they are edible in the sense that they won't hurt you, but don't taste of much and don't have a great texture. Sorry! I think they are bred for looks rather than taste.

[StrawHat]

Thanks Love, I'll just have to hope that a few hours in the oven soaking up a cheesy filling will do the trick :)

[LoveInAColdGrave]

It'll be fine, just bung in lots of herbs! Hope it tastes good (and it will look fab!). Can you serve it whole (a la the Nigella Christmas pumpkin) and carve it at the table for full Halloween wow factor?

[Rhubarb0oooo]

I would boil it to within an inch of its life along with some butternut squash and serve it as pumpkin and butternut squash mash.
Or have you tried slicing it and frying it with brown sugar? The result is crispy caramalised pumpkin which is particularly nice as a Halloween treat.

[mousyfledermaus]

they need slow roasting and/or pickling to be nice.

[StrawHat]

MIL has requested stuffed pumpkin, I'm going to oven bake it for the whole afternoon and endeavour to take it to the table whole (they always colapse the moment the knife hits them).
Rhubarb I love the idea of brown-sugar-fry, I'll def try that next time :)

[multipoodles]

Used it once as we have American friends who rave about pumpkin soup and it was horrible, when I told one she said they always use tinned pumpkin!

[bruffin]

I always use the big pumpkins for soup and have never had a complaint. In fact as soon as pumpkins start appearing the dcs and dh start requesting pumpkin soup.

[StrawHat]

We survived! MIL loved it so much she wrote down the recipe before doing the dishes and the leftovers made a superb omlette the next day :)