Ways to Use Halloween Pumpkins

My front stoop this year- laden with pumpkins and squash

I love pumpkins!
Carving pumpkins.
Eating pumpkin treats.
Slurping pumpkin soup.
Crunching pumpkin seeds.

And I am not alone.

You guys: Americans really love pumpkins.

By best estimates in a finder.com article:  154,000,000 Americans planned on carving pumpkins this year! Whoa, that’s a lot of fruit on our front stoops. (Yes, pumpkin is technically a fruit.) Which equals close to a billion pounds of pumpkin!

Everyone loves carving pumpkins!

Let’s deal with the aftermath of our slaughtered Halloween pumpkins responsibly, and preferably before they’re all moldy and gross (we’ve all been there right?)

This is one of those times when, if we each do a little, it will make a big impact!

Don’t forget, all these pumpkins will come back to haunt us year after year… if we don’t use them well 😉

Let’s break down some options.

Do NOT throw pumpkin into your garbage!

Think about the extra greenhouse gasses emitted by adding 154,000,000 pumpkins to landfills across our country. Spooky. Some landfills have taken measures to capture the methane emitted by the organic matter, a step in the right direction, but far from any finish line.

Here’s my PSA for my Minnesota readers:
“MN State law prohibits leaves, grass clippings, brush and other plant material from being mixed with your trash.”

What to do with Your Carved Pumpkins

• When you’re carving pumpkins, be sure to Roast the Pumpkin Seeds!
• Roast and eat them- they’re great in curries.
• Puree roasted pumpkin for soups or  freeze for baking.
• Add them to your existing compost pile, (I do love some good composting). Chopping up into small pieces first is recommended.
• Bring the carved pumpkins to the County Yard Waste sites.  Map of Ramsey County locations HERE.
• You can also cut up the pumpkin into pieces and leave out for wildlife.  In our case we leave some out for our chickens!
• Make Dog Treats with the pumpkin puree (there are tons of great recipes)
• Donate to Food Shelf
• Feed Farm Animals

Some Farmer’s markets collect the ‘used’ pumpkins for feeding animals, or for bringing back to add to their farm’s compost pile.

Some grocery stores collect the carved pumpkins, usually in connection to a farmer that hauls them back for animal feed or compost. (Kowalski’s Market in White Bear Lake used to do this, if enough of us call do you think they’d bring it back?!?).

Do you know of any local drop sites? Share with me and I’ll share here!

Just Eat It

If you didn’t slice into that beauty yet, roast the whole thing…

Even though these “carving pumpkins” or Jack O’ Lantern pumpkins have been grown for size, shape, smooth bright orange skin, and their handle like stems more than flavor they are still totally worth cooking up.

You can roast it whole, or slice in chunks and roast in the oven, (after saving the seeds) and use the puree in soups, smoothie and baking recipes. So much better than the store bought canned stuff! Making pumpkin puree is as easy as cooking or roasting it, then pureeing in a blender.

And then you can make my favorite Pumpkin Spice Cake!

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with onion and thyme

I will admit, pie pumpkins are more dense and sweeter, but I am a waste not want not kind of gal.

Looking for a more flavorful variety to grow and/or eat try next year? Try ‘Sugar Pie’, ‘Autumn Frost’, or even Kabocha varieties. Seeds available from many online seed companies! Yum.

The Seedy Side

When you’re carving pumpkins, be sure to Roast the Pumpkin Seeds!

I love roasted pumpkin seeds for snacking. Favorite Tip* boil  the seeds in salt water for a few hours (or up to a day) before roasting*. There are also ‘naked’ seeds or hull-less varieties you can grow (like the Kakai sold HERE).

…Or just save some of the seeds for planting your own pumpkins next spring!

Think of it as your treat to the earth to give back what it already put into growing your Halloween carving pumpkin.

Hopefully this takes some of the scary out of Halloween clean up.  What do you do with your old Jack O’ Lanterns once you’re done carving pumpkins?

Dig In!

Michelle