Skin-On Pumpkin Cooking Technique to Minimize Waste and Maximize Value

I wanted to show you how I cook Jack o' lantern type pumpkins. These are the large carving pumpkins that are usually the least expensive per pound. Jack o' lantern pumpkins have a high water content and are lower in natural sugars than sugar pie pumpkins. They can also be more stringy than pie pumpkins. But they do have food value, and if you process them right, the water content can be reduced and stringiness eliminated. And if you get a great price on these pumpkins, they can be an affordable yellow vegetable. Also, many folks buy pumpkins for carving Jack o' lanterns. This is a great way to get full use of those Halloween decorations. 

I use these carving pumpkins for making puree for breads, muffins, pies, and soups. And now I have an even simpler and less wasteful technique for cooking them. I leave the skin on and puree them flesh and skin together. I've long thought commercial canned pumpkin must be made with the skin on. It seems to me that would be not only be possible with commercial equipment, but would also ensure the greatest profit to use more of the pumpkin than our grandmothers could in their home kitchens. Today, we have food processors and immersion blenders to help us get a super smooth end product in our own kitchens.

My skin-on technique works with smooth skinned pumpkins, like below.

This is Happy Jack. We carved him from a 13-14 pound pumpkin the afternoon of Halloween. We used battery-operated candles inside for the evening. At the end of the night, I took out the candles and popped all of Jack into the fridge. When we carved him, I saved the seeds, the carved out pieces, and all of the inside stringy stuff in the fridge. A couple of days later, I washed and froze the seeds for future roasting. And the stringy stuff to be added to the first batch of cooked pumpkin for puree.

The next morning, I gave Jack a bath, then I began chopping up the little feller. With the skin still on, I chopped the pumpkin into 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubes. 

The only part of the pumpkin that I did not use was the stem (but I used the orange flesh under the stem), the blossom spot (but used the flesh under the blossom spot) and scarring on the skin (I gently trimmed away scars, preserving as much flesh as I could).

I began cooking the pumpkin in batches.

I put the cubes of raw pumpkin into a saucepan and added about 1/2 to 1-inch of water to the pan. I brought to a boil, covered, reduced to Low, then simmered for about 30-40 minutes, stirring twice part way through cooking to prevent scorching. When I could cut the skin on the pieces easily with the edge of a spoon, I knew they were done.

I scooped the cooked pumpkin into the food processor and pureed. Large pieces of skin would collect on the side of the processor bowl, so I stirred them back into the puree with a table knife.

After pureeing a bit more, the skin pieces were considerably smaller. Oddly, they mostly collected on the side of the bowl and seemed to almost vanish when I dumped the puree into the sieve.

I scooped the pureed pumpkin into a mesh sieve set over a large bowl and allowed it to drain and thicken for about an hour while I did other things in the kitchen. The mesh sieve held about 1 saucepan of cooked pumpkin puree. While the next batch cooked/cooled, the puree of the first batch drained.

You can see the difference in thickness at this point. It had reduced in volume by about 20%. I packaged the thickened puree into pint containers for the freezer.

This is the strained-off liquid from the pumpkin puree. I ended up with about 2 quarts of this liquid. I've used some already this week in soup. It has a mild flavor and can be used in soups as stock and in gravy. As it has both flavor and nutrients, I consider this remaining liquid to be of culinary value and not waste.

My original pumpkin weighed about 13 to 14 pounds. I paid between $3.64 and $3.92 for the whole pumpkin. In addition to the 2 quarts of pumpkin liquid, I also ended up with 6 & 1/2 pints of thickened pumpkin puree and about 1 1/2 cups of seeds for roasting. If I calculate the value based on just the puree, each pint costs between 56 and 60 cents, plus the cost of using the stove (a couple cents per pint). In this scenario, the pumpkin liquid and seeds are a bonus freebie. Store-brand canned pumpkin is currently selling for between $1.47 and $1.59 per pint at my nearby stores. I saved about 90 cents per can of pumpkin puree.

I had wondered for several years if I could just cook and puree the pumpkin skin with the flesh. I read in a couple of places that this could be done. So I gave it a try myself. We're very pleased with the results. My husband was skeptical when I told him I would be doing the pumpkin this way. He was sure the skin would ruin the texture and was completely surprised that the skin bits could not be detected in either the pumpkin soup or the pumpkin soufflé made this week.