Get the App

Recipes

Find a Recipe Blue Ribbon Recipes Pinch It!™ Feed Browse All Recipes

Editorial

Food Bites & Articles Videos What is a Blue Ribbon? Meet the Test Kitchen

Community

Member Recipes Groups Sweepstakes Contests Shopping

preparing fresh pumpkin

(1)
cyrene avatar
Recipe by
Linda Kauppinen
@cyrene
Greenwood, FL

This is for anyone, from experienced to the inexperienced. For those that want to continue cooking from scratch & for those that are just learning.
I myself just love it when I find a new hint or tip that I have never seen or heard of.
I have found that the best pumpkins to use are the Heritage Pumpkins as they are the very sweetest. If you can't find a Heritage Pumpkin at the farmers market, the small ones tend to be very sweet. If you don't have pumpkin available you can use Hubbard Squash instead.
**Did you know that most of your canned pumpkin in the store is really Hubbard Squash?

read more
(1)
yield serving(s)
prep time 30 Min
cook time 1 Hr
method Bake

Ingredients For preparing fresh pumpkin

  • herritage pumpkin or
  • small pumpkins or
  • blue hubbard squash

How To Make preparing fresh pumpkin

  • 1
    BOILING METHOD:
    Clean and peel pumpkin or squash.
    Discard seeds and stringy material from inside.
    Cut into small pieces and boil like potatoes until the pumpkin/squash is soft.
    Strain after cooking.
    Puree pumpkin in a blender.
    (Can be frozen)
  • This is a Heritage Pumpkin
    2
    BAKING METHOD #1:
    Cut an access hole of about 3-4 inch radius around the stem.
    Remove this piece, scoop out seeds and stringy material from the inside and discard.
    Place cleaned pumpkin/squash on a roasting pan or other oven-ready pan with deep sides.
    Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until pumpkin/squash appears to be collapsing and softening.
    Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
    Scoop out the meat with a large spoon.
    Discard skin.
    Puree pumpkin/squash meat in a food processor.
    **NOTE: this method is much easier than the boiling method above. It goes significantly faster and leaves a fairly dry puree that can be used directly without further concentration. The resulting puree is also more healthy and flavorful since the flavor wasn't boiled out with the vitamins.
  • 3
    BAKING METHOD #2: (my preferred method)
    NOTE: This is probably overall the best and fastest way to do it!
    Slice pumpkin/squash in half.
    Remove all seeds and string.
    Place both halves on a cookie sheet and place in a 425 degree oven.
    Cook for about 30 minutes.
    Remove from oven and let cool to around room temperature.
    Scoop out the pumpkin/squash meat with an ice cream scoop.
    It will be stringy.
    Chop it up with a Braun hand mixer until it's reasonably chopped.
    You can't get all the stringiness out with the hand mixer, so when it's processed with the hand mixer, put the result in a food processor and puree it for about 1-2 minutes until all the stringiness is chopped away.
  • 4
    **NOTE: Use any of these methods in your recipes calling for pumpkin or freeze it in 1-2 cup amounts until needed.
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
ADVERTISEMENT