What do you do with pumpkins?

[girlmom21]

We put all of the pulp etc out for the foxes and hedgehogs but what do we do with the outside of the pumpkin now that Halloween is over?

Do you just throw them away? Or are they any good for the animals?

I'm not usually one to get all uppity about commercialisation and food waste. But the pumpkin thing does make me cross. Food is basically grown for decoration and to be disposed of without ever being consumed.

Just buy a plastic one you can use multiple times.

@Talipesmum you scoop out all the stringy, wet bits but leave the thick wall otherwise when you light a candle inside you get the burning smell

@Playingoutinthedark

I'm not usually one to get all uppity about commercialisation and food waste. But the pumpkin thing does make me cross. Food is basically grown for decoration and to be disposed of without ever being consumed.

Just buy a plastic one you can use multiple times.

You can't carve a plastic one and if animals are being fed it's not a waste.

@Playingoutinthedark

I'm not usually one to get all uppity about commercialisation and food waste. But the pumpkin thing does make me cross. Food is basically grown for decoration and to be disposed of without ever being consumed.

Just buy a plastic one you can use multiple times.

But you're getting uppity on a thread where most people are saying they use the flesh and seeds in recipes, very little goes to waste at that rate. So it's quite an unjustified response here

[quote girlmom21]@Talipesmum you scoop out all the stringy, wet bits but leave the thick wall otherwise when you light a candle inside you get the burning smell [/quote]
No that thick wall is the flesh to use in recipes, I spend ages getting most of it out when we carve so the pumpkin is thoroughly hollowed out and lasts longer because otherwise the candle cooks the flesh and it goes gross.

@KurtWildeWitchOfTheWoods oh is it? You can tell I'm an amateur with pumpkins

Well this is what I mean! I’d have thought “the flesh” is the solid wall of the pumpkin. But by the time my pumpkins have been sitting around for several days with candles in them, and likely slugs crawling through them in the garden, I don’t really want to eat that flesh myself, and I haven’t ever noticed people scooping that bit out. Can the stringy stuff be used for anything?

@Playingoutinthedark

I'm not usually one to get all uppity about commercialisation and food waste. But the pumpkin thing does make me cross. Food is basically grown for decoration and to be disposed of without ever being consumed.

Just buy a plastic one you can use multiple times.

Not much difference to flowers being grown for decoration and then composted afterwards?

And really, i kind of think that pumpkins are the perfect seasonal decoration. Biodegradable, vegetable matter, not contributing to landfill or made from throwaway plastic- the few plasticy Halloween decorations we’ve amassed over the years are invariably cheap tat and break very easily, despite being in a cupboard for most of the year. It’s a lovely activity to carve pumpkins, they are recyclable as food waste / compost / squirrel and bird fodder.

[quote DrunkenKoala]@SoupDragon

So, littering.

No the wall is next to all the trees where lots of squirrels run along. We do it each year and it’s fine.[/quote]
So, the squirrels remove an entire pumpkin?

Or does someone have to remove all the rotting ones.

Dispose of as food waste.

Some people go with painting rather than carving them now. That way it's still fresh to cook with afterwards.

I recycle them each year.

@Pumpkinsonparade

You didn't make soup?? Or pumpkin scones? Omg...

Not with the big carving pumpkins they are disgusting.

I make a soup out of the inside & then put the outside bit in my compost bin

@idontlikealdi I made Thai pumpkin curry from a large ‘carving’ pumpkin and it was delicious. They are all perfectly good for eating.

@SoupDragon

So, the squirrels remove an entire pumpkin?

Or does someone have to remove all the rotting ones.

You seem really interested in how this works. The wall goes around the outside of the park, it’s about a foot high and has railing on it. Before we go to the park we cut the pumpkin into big chunks then we take it inside the park and put the chunks on the wall against the inside railings.

We walk through the park each morning and we go over and have a look at what’s been taken and usually about a week to 10 days later there’s nothing left. So I don’t agree that is littering.

The park is owned by the council and last year they specifically put in their Facebook page to leave pumpkins in local parks and woodland for the wildlife whereas this year they’ve just said about leaving them out for wildlife, but I’m sure if they didn’t want people leaving them in parks then they would have said that.

As it happens a friend Facebook posted about a local farm asking for pumpkin donations to feed their animals through the winter - apparently they had nearly 2.5K donated last year and they helped to feed the animals through last winter and early spring so we’ve decided to go and donate there for a change.

Another DO NOT LEAVE ON THE GROUND FOR HOGS TO EAT. Place it higher up. It acts as a laxative at the exact time of year they're trying to gain weight for hibernation. Aka they could die as a result. I leave out any meat / poultry flavoured cat food with cat biscuits for Hogs, in a secure feeding hideout, safe from predators.

And as mentioned above, pumpkin seeds are like Crack to Gerbils

We only have one medium one. I cut it up, peel the bits, and make it into Thai style pumpkin soup. Some sweated chopped onion, chicken stock, just enough to cover the bits, garlic, red chilli and ginger, simmer until soft, whizz with stick blender, add coconut milk, delish.

Am I the only one that kept wondering about the desperate pleas to not pigs get to the pumpkins?
I've just realised it's hedgehogs! I was thinking Hogs as in pigs!

Our local park offered to accommodate them as well. But we had a woman with a van come knocking asking to take them for a local wildlife park/nature reserve this morning.
She got quite a good haul from our street, but I've not had that before here.

I always thought 'carving pumpkins' sold for Halloween weren't really for eating? I.e. not much flesh and not much flavour-is this not correct? We didn't carve ours this year, just added props, so I'll make sure to use it if it's worthwhile.

@MissyB1 no, I was also thinking pigs 🙈

They might not taste as good as an eating variety but they work OK in most recipes.

@Playingoutinthedark

I'm not usually one to get all uppity about commercialisation and food waste. But the pumpkin thing does make me cross. Food is basically grown for decoration and to be disposed of without ever being consumed.

Just buy a plastic one you can use multiple times.

How the hell is buying more pointless plastic that does not break down for 50 billion years (OK maybe not that long) be better than buying a vegetable that degrades naturally replenishing the earth soil and feeding wildlife???!!!

Roast the seeds, comport the rest. I hate pumpkin flesh but the garden loves it.