Halloween is a howling good time – but here’s a scary thought……what do you do with your jack-o-lantern on November 1st? For the eager beavers out there who carved their pumpkins the first week of October, your spooky orange ghoul is now a wizened toothless old soul with moldy age spots. Even if you only carved your pumpkin on Halloween eve, the candle inside has undoubtedly blackened the once bright orange flesh. So what to do now? Composting is probably the best use of this once proud pumpkin. Remove any candle and melted wax from inside and plastic eyeballs or other decorations from the exterior then, gently lay it to rest in your compost pile or bin. Come spring this year’s jack-o-lantern will return to the garden to help create next year’s prize pumpkin.

But wait – why not bake the pumpkin for holiday pies? Bottom line is there are jack-o-lantern pumpkins and pie pumpkins and they are very different in structure and taste. Pumpkins grown for carving are large, have thin, stringy pulp, thick rinds and little or no flavor if cooked. Baking pumpkins on the other hand are small with thick fine pulp and when baked mash easily and have a buttery tasting flesh. So, when Halloween is over go back to the grocery store or the nearest farm stand and look for baking pumpkins. Some common names you might see are Pick-A-Pie, Baby Bear or Sugar Pie varieties. These small varieties weigh 4-6 pounds and will yield 1 ½ - 2 cups of pumpkin puree.

To make delicious pumpkin puree that can be used in all recipes that call for canned pumpkin simply bake, peel and mash these small sweet pumpkins. First, wash and cut pumpkin in half. Remove seeds and stringy matter. (Reserve seeds and toast for a traditional fall treat).
Cut each half again to speed baking time if desired. Lay pumpkin pieces face down on shallow baking sheet and cover with foil. Bake in 375° oven for 1.5 – 2 hours until flesh can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove pan from oven and allow pumpkin pieces to cool. Remove skin and mash or puree the flesh with potato masher or in food processor. Pumpkin puree can be used immediately in pies, breads, cookies or soup but make sure to bake extra to freeze for Thanksgiving Day dessert!