Pumpkin season is upon us! The orange (and tan and blue) squashes are filling our produce departments, just waiting to decorate or be eaten… or both.
As always we have carving pumpkins, small decorative gourds, and baking pumpkins. Fairy tale pumpkins are back, with their wide, flat bottom and perfect creases. New this year are blue jarrahdales: handsome, nubbly pumpkins with a blue-green skin, perfect whether your decorations are classy or nouveau-zombie.
As an added bonus, fairy tale pumpkins and blue jarrahdales are great cooking pumpkins, too. Last year, I cooked a fairy tale pumpkin and ended up with several quarts of beautiful orange pumpkin goodness. I froze it in two-cup increments, just what I needed for a pie recipe, and used it throughout the holidays. (Note: be sure to squash the water out using a colander before baking—it’s wetter than canned pumpkin.)
If you’ve never cooked your own pumpkin, it’s easy: Cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop the seeds out with your hand or a spoon. Place the pumpkin cut-side-down on a baking sheet. (Don’t use a flat cookie sheet or the juices may run off the sides.) Bake at 350 until the pumpkin is soft, 30 to 60 minutes depending on size. You can easily test the pumpkin’s softness by poking it with a fork. If it’s just KINDA soft, let it cook a little longer. Let the pumpkin cool before scooping the meat out and packaging it for the freezer.