This excerpt from a Boston Globe newsletter made my day:
The Old Farmer’s Almanac has great tips for picking the perfect pumpkin:
1. Look for a pumpkin that has a deep orange color.
2. Knock on the pumpkin to check that it is hollow (and therefore ripe).
3. Make sure the bottom of the pumpkin isn’t soft and mushy! Also, the bottom should be flat so it doesn’t roll.
4. Check that the stem is firm and secure. Never pick a pumpkin up from the stem! It may break, which leads to faster decay.
5. Run like h… before your neighbor sees you on their porch.
Do you decorate with pumpkins? Have you ever cooked raw pumpkin?
October 17, 2020
This is funny! I like the Old farmer’s Almanac, and have their desk calendar. I decorate with them, but have never cooked one.
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Thanks for the chuckle. That looks like a mighty fine pumpkin. i used to do pumpkins on the porch, but lately I mostly decorate inside. My family used to grow them in the backyard garden when I was a kid and that was a lot of fun. Baking with fresh pumpkin is great, but a lot of work:)
Yes, I cooked a pumpkin once, and canned pumpkin is a lot easier. 🙂
When we had a garden outside, before the critters took over, we grew a pumpkin for Kaitlin. As I recall one of the critters loved hiding under its leaves when it shelled and ate the peas it had harvested. We never saw the critter, just the pile of empty pods. That was so sweet.
I haven’t picked a pumpkin out since the ’80s, but since I can’t run very fast I guess I shouldn’t try it again.
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I love it thanks for my thanks for my first laugh out loud of the day! The punchline really punched me haha. No I have never cooked a pumpkin but my mother used to and I would watch and eat but not do it myself. I have carved maybe 3 in my lifetime. I am not a decorator and my mother could not afford to decorate even though she was a decorator. So no pumpkins for me I have bought a few plastic ones when the kids were little for them to carry their stuff in. I also when I buy a watermelon thump on it to listen for the hollow sound
I loved that punch line too. I didn’t see it coming.
Funny!
That looks a lot like the pumpkin on our porch.
I rarely cook, so, no, I’ve never cooked raw pumpkin, but Karen does and, if the one on the porch lasts, probably will with that one. She did buy some smaller pumpkins earlier and then froze the cooked pumpkin puree for later use, probably in pies, though with COVID, we won’t have our traditional visits and won’t need as many pies. Maybe pumpkin bread or muffins…
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Rofl. Nope, never cooked pumpkin. Too easy to just buy it canned with much less work. Carving pumpkins were tradition when our kids were home, but not any more.
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Too funny! I’ve not carved a pumpkin since grade school; those ‘innards’ trigger my overly-tactile senses.
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We carved a pumpkin. ONCE. It got all soft and moldy. Never again!
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I love that ending!
I do too!
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers could he also pick a perfect pumpkin? Just wonderin’.
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Love the story.
Yes, I’ve regularly cooked pumpkin – most recently roasted it with potatoes and kumara along with carrot and some small onions – but also pumpkin soup is nice in the winter.
Canned pumpkin isn’t something that you would find here…
Here it is usually easy to get, but apparently the canneries are having trouble keeping up with the demand now. That plus the harvest was late, if I read that correctly.
LOL that last step is probably the most important. I haven’t bought a pumpkin in years. I think the last time Wade and I carved pumpkins was in 2006. I’ve never cooked one.
We haven’t carved pumpkins since Kaitlin grew up. If they have some small pie pumpkins in the store I might try one, just for curiosity’s sake. I bought some small golden acorn squash, but I don’t like the flavor as much as the green acorns.
I’ve never cooked a pumpkin, and after your remarks about it not being worth the trouble, I probably never will! But I remember a friend once baking a pumpkin pie and it was delicious.
It’s always nice when we can try things without having to go through the hassle ourselves. 🙂
That’s funny, thanks for sharing!
Yes, the punch line was too good not to share. 🙂