This is a basic “recipe” for pumpkin puree from whole pumpkins. The puree can be frozen and used in various recipes year round, and if you take advantage of the load of them during the Hallowe’en season, you will have pumpkin puree for pennies a litre.

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Pumkin Puree

Ingredient for many baking recipes.

Keyword

pumpkin, Puree

Servings

Ingredients

• 1 or 2 full pumkins

Keyword pumpkin, Puree Servings Ingredients 1 or 2 full pumkins

Instructions

Prep the Victim

1. The first thing you do it cut it up into wedges, removing the stem, and any bad pieces you find. You have to scrape out the seeds and all that, and if yo have made a display pumpkin, this has already been done, but if you haven't.... well, I have taken to leaving the pumpkin out in the snowbank to freeze. Then I go at it with a hand saw (I clean it first). It is surprisingly easy to cut, the slimy seeds in the center are much easier to scoop out frozen, and it leaves your snowbank looking a little bit like a pumpkin slaughter-house until the next snowfall.
2. Place all your sections, on edge, into a roasting pan (or two or three). Add an inch or two of water.

   
3. Heat the oven to 350, place the roasting pan on the middle rack, and bake for 45 minutes.
4. Once done, remove from the oven, and you are ready to continue.

Scrape Out the Guts

1. Get a large bowl of for the scrapings, and large cutting board, and set yourself up a production line to scrape the pumpkin innards off the wedges one by one.

   
2. I use a waterproof silicone oven glove, but a simple plastic bag over a glove worked for me the first time. Grab a big spoon - something "scrapey" - and starting in the middle working outwards, scrape the pulp off the skin.

   
3. There is a certain feel to it that might take a few wedges to get, but you should be able to get it so you are left with just the skin to toss out.

   

Processing the Pulp

1. This is another process. Run all the pulp through you favorite blender. You may have to add water to get it to thoroughly blend.

   
2. Once you do, you'll have a smooth puree. I let mine sit on the counter overnight to see if any water separated out, but none did

   
3. Then it is a matter of separating it into freezing containers. I find a scale really helps out here a lot. 500 g is pretty darn close to 2 cups. This is the produce from two small pumpkins.... should keep us going all year. One large pumpkin can yield twice this amount, though.

   

Recipe Notes

We use this in all sorts of recipes throughout the year. From pumpkin pie to soup (believe it or not). If covered with a piece of plastic wrap, it freezes better, and keeps very well.