A pumpkin is food not just decoration

It is estimated that each year 18000 tonnes of pumpkin gets thrown away in the UK in the wake of Halloween. In the days before Halloween, huge boxes of pumpkins in all shapes and sizes are available in the shops, ranging in price from about £1 to £3. Even pop-up pick your own pumpkin farms have become a thing in recent years. And this is all fantastic - pumpkins are bright and fun and it is great to see a vegetable being bought with such enthusiasm! However, after Halloween, the shops reduce the price to 5p or even try to give them away for free and most of those already turned into lanterns are thrown away. In a time when we are so aware of food waste, this is a massive spike on the food waste graph.

I totally get that a lot of people think that they don't like pumpkin. There are lots of ways to eat pumpkin that are frankly disgusting. Personally I have never been a fan of pumpkin pie and a pile of watery boiled pumpkin on the side of your plate at dinner isn't going to float your boat either. I am also quite surprised by the lack of imagination in recipes offered by foodie businesses and magazines when trying to persuade you to eat your lantern rather than throwing them away. However, pumpkin is an amazing versatile vegetable, taking to casseroles and stir-fries as readily as a mushroom, and to cakes as enthusiastically as a carrot.

So I have set myself a challenge to post a pumpkin recipe every day for the whole of November in the hope of creating a useful resource to help you find ways to enjoy eating your pumpkin - yes, enjoy - not just endure to avoid the guilt of food waste.

Mindful Pumpkin Carving

Let's start at the pumpkin carving stage as there are a few tips here that help to make the most out of your pumpkin. If it is too late for this year, these will be useful to remember next year.

The process of carving a pumpkin should create three separate waste products - the seeds, the goo and some useful pumpkin flesh.

The seeds

Pull these out first and put them in a separate bowl as you go, removing as much goo from them as possible. You will see a lot of tweets and social media tips telling you not to throw them away but to try roasting them or frying them in spices. By all means give this a go and see if you like them.

Personally, I prefer my pumpkin seeds as you buy them in shops - without the outer white shell. There are particular varieties of pumpkin that grow seeds "nude" or without this white shell. Varieties such as Triple Treat, for example, grow seeds like this, but the ones grown for lanterns generally aren't like that and trying these roasted could put you off pumpkin seeds for life. So, I prefer to give them a quick rinse and put them out for the birds and squirrels. The squirrels will likely bury a few and you could end up with some pumpkin plants growing in your garden next year!

The goo

I cannot imagine doing anything with this other than throwing it away. It is best thrown into a home compost bin if you have one or a food waste bin.

The Useful Flesh

As you cut the pumpkin up to make a lantern, there are some useful bits of pumpkin flesh that can be kept to use in recipes. These include about 1cm depth cut off the inside of the lid and all the pieces cut out of the carved face area. Set these aside for later use. I find that I usually get about 8oz (225g) to 1lb (454g) of usable pumpkin during the creation of a couple of Halloween lanterns.

How to Use the Pumpkin Flesh

There are two ways that pumpkin can be used - cooked or raw. Many recipes call for pumpkin puree and this can be created very easily by removing the skin, cutting the flesh into chunks and steaming for about 20 minutes. Leave it to cool and bag it up. You can squish the chunks inside the bag between your fingers to make a puree. Most recipes call for 4oz, 8oz or 1lb of pumpkin puree so it can be useful to bag it up in these kind of quantities, label it up and freeze it for later use. So, if you don't have time to do anything immediately with your pumpkin then at least create some puree to freeze.

Other recipes use fresh pumpkin which is grated, such as in cakes, or chopped, as in casseroles and stir-fries. If you are going to do this then keep your chunks of pumpkin in a bag in the fridge for up to 4 days. Any whole pumpkins that you haven't cut into to turn into lanterns will happily sit until about Christmas.

Making Use of Your Lantern After Halloween

In addition to the obvious health and safety implications of naked flames and flammable Halloween costumes, it is better for your pumpkins to light your lanterns up using LED candles. When you use a real candle the inside of your pumpkin gets a bit sooty and a day or two later it will start to grow an impressive crop of fluffy mould. Using LED candles keeps the inside of your lantern clean and cool and gives you a little longer to get round to using up the pumpkin before it goes mouldy.

When Halloween is over, bring your lanterns inside to stop the animals eating them (this is most likely to be rats so not something to encourage), and keep them somewhere cool. If you can, start cutting them up straight away whilst it is still nice and fresh. Cut any dried out edges off and either cut it into cubes to make puree or process for your recipe - e.g. grate or chop. Any pieces you are not using straight away can be bagged up and put in the fridge for a few day.

So now for Day 1 and the first recipe. I thought it apt to start with the first pumpkin recipe that I made, all those years ago when I carved my first Halloween lantern. It is a great way to use up the flesh from making the lanterns.

Pumpkin Muffins (makes 12)

450g pumpkin

90g wholemeal flour (or plain if preferred)

180g self-raising flour

½ teaspoon mixed spice

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

95g dark brown sugar
55g sultanas

2 eggs

115 ml sunflower oil

115 ml whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peel, chop and steam the pumpkin for 20 until very soft.  Allow to cool and squash to puree. Refrigerate overnight if desired or freeze for later use.  Preheat oven to 210°C, gas 7.  Mix the flours and spices in a bowl.  Whisk the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla together and add to the dry mix then add the pumpkin puree.  Combine until just mixed.  Spoon into paper cases in a tin.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.