Pumpkins

[goingbacktothecaves]

AIBU to not buy pumpkins this year , i try to not have any food waste and feel that throwing perfectly good food away after cutting some scary shaped holes in it is really bad for the environment. Surely we should be using the land and water to grow food that will get eaten?

@Mulhollandmagoo

Surely it is better to have a biodegradable decoration than buying a load of plastic Halloween tat shipped in from China?

🙌

Not when it's travelled across the world to get to Tesco no

Pumpkins don't travel across the world to get here, I'm surrounded by them!

@IComeInPeace exactly why I go pick one from a farm 20 minutes from my house!

Eat it! We roast ours, or use in stuffings

Also @IComeInPeace I did turnips a few times as a kid, my dad cut the flesh out using a drill because however hard we tried we just couldn't do it 😂 they're rock solid! Looked good though

We turn ours into pies, soups, and fibre blocks for the kitties

@spanieleyes wow - so you do have a pumpkin fairy! 😂

YABU! Going picking this morning with friend and her children. Really looking forward to my pumpkin pie. Any spare purée I add to soups. Vitamin boost!!

@BewareTheBeardedDragon

Well, he wears wellies and drives a tractor but I suppose we do!

So eat them then

@spanieleyes don't fall for the stereotypes - fairies come in all shapes and sizes... 🧚🏿‍♀️ 🚜 🎃

We grow our own pumpkins but failing that a farm 10 minutes up the road also grow pumpkins. No travelling across the world for them.

They also grow other fruits and vegetables you can buy it’s a pyo farm.

Why would you do that? You can use the whole thing:

First, scoop out and wash the seeds. Toast with salt or other spices in the oven. Eat.

Then, scoop out most of the flesh. Use in pumpkin pie, risotto, etc.

Then carve it. Stick outside with a candle, as usual.

After Halloween, chop it in half and leave at the bottom of the garden for the animals/to rot.

It’s a no-waste option for entertainment.

Oh it's about Halloween! I thought you were calling me out using my old nickname!

Love MN trying to make ‘hedgepig’ a thing when they are the same as hedgehogs. Load of tryhard nonsense.

The pumpkin seeds are delicious lightly roasted with salt & olive oil, so not a waste at all 🎃

@JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil

Love MN trying to make ‘hedgepig’ a thing when they are the same as hedgehogs. Load of tryhard nonsense.

Are they the same as 'Privethogs'?

@WaltzingToWalsingham

I've thought this too, OP. My local supermarket stocks "non culinary pumpkins" at Halloween, so presumably they're not edible. They'll have taken a lot of space and water to grow, a lot of petrol and lorry space to transport (being large and bulky), all for one night's decoration. It seems so wasteful.

they are edible in that they are not poisonous, but they are grown for size and speed of growth. You don't get much flesh and what you do get is stringy and pretty tasteless. Also they don't keep as well

@JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil

Love MN trying to make ‘hedgepig’ a thing when they are the same as hedgehogs. Load of tryhard nonsense.

"Hedgepig" was around long before Mumsnet 😂 Love people trying to make out everything is down to MN...

@Mulhollandmagoo

Also *@IComeInPeace* I did turnips a few times as a kid, my dad cut the flesh out using a drill because however hard we tried we just couldn't do it 😂 they're rock solid! Looked good though

He used a drill! That's where we went wrong!

I put them out for the birds to have a pick at

I tried to eat a 'halloween' pumpkin once I'd left home thinking I'd got a good deal cost wise, on the assumption a pumpkin was a pumpkin. It was awful. Nothing like the pumpkins my family ate. It was watery, stringy just the total opposite. There are so many different varieties out there and some are definitely not for eating, especially in pies.

@Mulhollandmagoo you can’t buy GM crops in Britain, it’s illegal

I’ve always used the carved out flesh for pumpkin pie and roasted the seeds.

DC love pumpkin pie (made with tinned milk and loads of cinnamon). It’s a Halloween ritual. Adore the smell in the house.