What do you do with pumpkins?

[MyOtherProfile]

Toby Jones is narrating some programme about the Fens right now. He just said pumpkins are grown primarily for decoration. Why is this? In France and other places pumpkins are grown for food - soup, roast, mash etc. Smaller tasty ones, not these massive bland ones. Seems like a waste to grow them just to chop bits out for one day a year. Anyone else actually cook them like me?

MyOtherProfile my sister always grows a few to eat. Just don’t like the flavour, however petite they are.

I like bitter squashes, sweet, the flat ones, long ones, etc .

Smaller pumpkins and squash especially patty pan I slice the top off take the seeds out and stuff with leftover chilli top with cheese and roast whole

Pumpkin risotto, pumpkin cake (amazing), pumpkin gratin, different kinds of soups. We tried pumpkin pie but didn't like it. I love pumpkin season to eat them and carve.

We have soup and bake the seeds.

We use them for decoration and eating
We do the best pumpkin soup for a halloween/bonfire party where you cook the soup in the hollowed out pumpkin.
It tastes and looks amazing www.countryliving.com/uk/create/food-and-drink/recipes/a907/baked-pumpkin-soup-recipe/

Ours are home grown so that probably makes a difference to the flavour

I use lantern pumpkin flesh in cakes. It has so little flavour that a little spice covers it but it adds moisture.

It depends if we get a good harvest from the allotments. If we do then I'll make soup, if not then I'll use butternut squash and use the pumpkins to make dog treats.

I do soup, curry, pakoras, chutney, pickle, cake. I grow nice little ones though not the big Halloween ones

I roast them or make soup, or the carving ones go to the chickens - they're less fussy about the flavour than us. We won't have many this year though, it's been a dire growing year and I only have four little green ones on the vines.

Last year I cooked the cut-out pieces from the carved pumpkin. Can't remember what recipe I did.

You don't really want to eat it after it's been sitting out all day cut up with a burning candle inside. I've heard of painting them instead to get round that.

Lidl usually have huge orange ones for carving and a selection of smaller, more interesting ones for cooking with.

I do! Love pumpkin… cut into chunks and roasted… made into soup… made into pumpkin chilli… also roast the seeds in a little sea salt and oil in the oven… delicious

I've growing 3 varieties this year (2 are technically squash)- Kuri squash, butternut pumpkin and jeune de grosse (I realised it was a giant, yellow, French pumpkin after buying the seedling from lidl!)

I cook with them too. Baked, soup, stuffed, steamed etc. I was born abroad where Halloween was always seen as an American thing and barely celebrated. Yes, I know there is a pagan/British connection, but was surprised when I'm moved here, at how big and commerical it is in the UK!

Growing squash is really easy, you can do it in a big pot. Jill be little or potimarron/kuri would taste good and look reasonably festive.

Resurrecting this thread to say that Aldi have mixed small squash in for 79p at the moment for the pp who were looking.