Have you ever noticed how much of a pumpkin gets tossed away while carving them into Jack-O-Lanterns? The guts (we will call it the pulp) and seeds get disposed of and once the hollowed out squash starts decomposing that gets thrown out too! We are going to give you a few tips on ways you can use your entire pumpkin and get the most out of it this Halloween—and hopefully all of the future Halloween’s to come!
Pulp
The stringy stuff that you just hate scooping out with your hands…that’s the pulp and it comes in handy for making pumpkin bread, muffins or even pumpkin stock! Separate the seeds from the pulp and get to cooking. These are some great examples of recipes you can make with your pumpkin pulp:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Seeds
So, you probably have some idea of what we are going to suggest here but let’s pretend like you don’t. A great way to use your pumpkin seeds can be to roast them in the oven; if that was what you were thinking then we were on the same page! Try dividing the seeds after roasting and seasoning half with salt and pepper and the other half with cinnamon and sugar. Roasted pumpkin seeds couldn’t taste any better than coming from a fresh pumpkin that you picked out yourself! Can we agree?
Shell (the Jack-O-Lantern)
Now, we might not want to eat a hollowed out squash that has been sitting for a month, so what can we do with it once Halloween has passed? A great way to say goodbye to your pumpkin and give back to the earth from where it came from is to compost it! Either smash it up and throw it in your home compost pile or swing it by Lane Forest Products (Eugene or Springfield location) and we will make sure it finds its way back into the earth! Something you need to remember before composting your pumpkin:
Did you paint on your pumpkin? If so, you cannot compost it unless you cut off the part that was painted on.
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