A Quick Pumpkin Hack.

Our Sugar Pumpkin harvest left us with an issue.

I wanted to get into all those little pumpkins, save the seeds to plant and cook the flesh, without making a huge pupkiny mess I would have to clean up.

When it comes to cooking pumpkin, if I am not interested in the seeds I just wrap them in tin foil and bake them whole- at about 350 till they are soft.

That way all the natural sugars stay in and the seeds steam.  If you wait till the pumpkin is cool getting the flesh off the skin and seeds out of the flesh is a snap.

People look at me funny when I tell them this but I have yet to find a down side to the method and I have used it for years in kitchens when I had to cook a metric ass-load of them at a time.

When we want to save the seeds the task gets more complicated.  I decided to go through layer by layer I would get the best result with the least mess and fuss.  After all- I did have a sink full.

I start with a sharp knife (pretty much the only kitchen appliance anyone NEEDS) and cut off the top and bottom.

Then cut around the whole thing with curving flat cuts, to take the skin off.

It takes some practice but trust me it is a technique that will make your cooking life so much simpler.  When that is done you have a smooth ball of flesh.

The inside of the pumpkin will curve like the exterior. Cut off the top and bottom again so you can see the beginnings of the seed structure.  This thickness will vary from pumpkin to pumpkin but you will be able to FEEL when you are cutting through seeds so just adjust as you go.

In the end you are left with a seed ball that can be planted as is or broken up easily.

There might be a slightly better way to get to the seeds but you don’t have to get out a spoon this way, making one less dish.

Always a plus in my book!

Happy pumpkining!