Inspired by seeing some great costumes on the tube, searching recipes on this site, reading Kavey's blog and it being a friend's birthday tomorrow (and no he is not called Damien) I thought I'd carve a pumpkin.

I'm really more concerned about eating what is inside though! They were called 'carving pumpkins.' Does this mean they are grown for size rather than flavour? Are they edible? (Surely at least the seeds would be OK.)

The staff in the shop were of course none the wiser, and thought I was pulling their leg when I said I was buying it primarily to eat!

They are edible, just they have less flesh, a larger hollow than eating ones... it's just they are bred for size/ easy to hollow.

I just did a Halloween Courgette (check my blog again).

Was much easier than I thought but check out my friend's skillz here:

http://www.meemalee.com/2010/10/pumpkin-does-not-get-tougher-than-this.html

Uncanny isn't it?

PS I didn't get any flesh out of my one but did roast the seeds in a little salt and garam masala. Not as good as sunflower seeds but not bad!

I've just carved mine, seed in oven and curried pumpkin soup is cooking !!

my carving attempt

Steve

a friend gave me a home grown pumpkin about 4 weeks ago and i roasted the seeds in as they were in a little butter until they went brown and crispy and i mixed them with honey poured yoghurt on the top and sprinkled it with a very small ammount of ground cinamon and it was reall nice. if the seeds are not roasted proper you will have the problem of chewy husks. roast them well and it is no problem. works with butternut squash seeds aswell. sid.

hi Sid, this is the second time I've roasted pumpkin/squash seeds and I've improved on my first attempt in leaps and bounds. First time I soaked the seeds in hot water for 15-30mins and then roasted in olive oil sprinkled with sea salt. They came our quite well but the shells were very hard to chew through (even the almost burnt ones from the edges of the tray).

This time I simmered them in salty water for a good 15 minutes and then let them sit in the water for another 15... then I used spray olive oil to just coat the tray and put them in a low oven.. this time much easier to chew and just about perfect...

Steve

I cant believe how over the years, England has followed the US's lead in celebrating Halloween. We didnt do anything when I was growing up in the north west of england but now after seeing what all my nieces n nephews do (via facebook and emails) its quite bizarre, everyone really gets into it. We dont really do anything down here. Some do, but not the whole population.

Cheers

Steve

Do check Kavey's friend's blog. Not only is it a very fine carved pumpkin but as one poster notices the exact image of Hilary Alexander, the telegraph's fashion guru.

Now trying to work out who Steve's pumpkin looks like!

askcy your pumpkin reminds me of david atenborough. dont ask me why but when i saw it that is who i first thought of. it must have taken a long time to do all these pumpkin carvings. great stuff!!!!!!

Sid I think I can see what you mean David Attenborough

Steve

by the way if you want to see some serious carvers !

http://www.home-designing.com/2009/10/crazy-cool-halloween-pumpkins

and

http://www.geekologie.com/2008/10/knife_skills_champion_pumpkin.php

Steve

Vow, some are really works of art!

Oh dear: I chucked the seeds out!

Didn't get much flesh out of the pumpkin, once I'd made the lantern, so no pumpkin soup, alas.

Phil

I didn't think I would get much out of mine but I used a strong spoon and scraped the insides (after removing the fiberous flesh with the seeds in) and got quite a pile (pumpkin whole weighed 3.5-4 kgs)..

and I've just eaten the last of the seeds... really far too tasty...

Steve

Just a thought... can you eat the fiberous part that holds the seeds ? Does it cook down and break up ?

Steve

I always throw away the fibrous part, it would be difficult to chew and it doesn't cook to become soft.

Thanks, Steve: I'll carve out as much flesh as poss next year: the thing rots really quickly, so at least goes into the compost bin, but it's a shame not to use some of it for cooking.

Phil