These Pumpkin Recipes Will Have You Rethinking Fall Dining (2024)

FAQs

Can you eat the stringy part of pumpkins? ›

Yes, you can use that stringy slimy stuff in the middle of the pumpkin: put it in a pan with plenty of water, and boil it to make a thin broth. Strain the broth, then mix it with apple or orange juice and mulling spices for an aromatic autumnal warmer.

The best type of pumpkin for cooking and baking

It may seem tempting, but I wouldn't recommend cooking with the big pumpkins you normally get at the pumpkin patch. They tend to be very stringy and not flavorful. Instead, I recommend using a pie pumpkin or sugar pumpkin (pictured above).

Spoiler alert – it's a trick question! The correct answer is that ALL parts of the pumpkin are edible (although you wouldn't want to eat the dried stem – yuck!). Pumpkins are in the squash family, called “Cucurbits,” and all parts of all squash are edible – leaves, vines, fruit, seeds, skin and roots!

You can eat the stringy bits, once separated from the seeds. The Chef munched on it raw while working, but a more appealing use is to turn them into pumpkin cider: Boil the strings to make a thin broth. Strain, then mix with apple cider and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Blue cheeses like gorgonzola team up well with the notes of dried fruit typical of pumpkin. Another excellent pairing is with a nice fresh goat's cheese since its acidulous notes offset the sweetness of pumpkin.

To complement pumpkin with sweet flavor pairings, consider using spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla, or sweet ingredients like chocolate, maple, honey, cranberries or brown sugar. Create savory dishes by pairing pumpkin with spices like chilies, cajun, cayenne or pepper.

Pumpkin is notorious for pairing well with warm winter spices – as found in a variety of Moroccan-inspired cuisines. Try incorporating cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cumin and chilli with your pumpkin dishes for flavour-packed feasts.

Due to its high soluble fiber content, pumpkin is very good for your dog's digestion. If you feed your dog some pumpkin, it will add bulk to their stool. This helps reduce issues with diarrhea. In addition, fermentation of the same fiber produces beneficial fatty acids that supply energy to cells.

Yes, dogs can eat pumpkin and it is actually often added to dog foods. Check the label of some dog treats and you may find pumpkin on the ingredient list there too. However, if you are feeding fresh pumpkin, you will need to be careful about which part you're feeding as the stem and leaves are covered in prickly hairs.

For cooking, you'll want to use sugar pumpkins (also called pie or sweet pumpkins), which are small and round. Long Island Cheese pumpkins, which are more oblong and can look like a wheel of cheese, are also good to eat. Field pumpkin types are larger, have watery, stringy flesh, and are best for decorating.

What are 5 ways pumpkins can be used? ›

What kind of pumpkin do you have? Carving pumpkins tend to have thinner walls and flesh that is stringy (think: spaghetti squash) and flavorless but relatively easy to carve. You'll often find them displayed outside grocery stores.

To make pumpkin pie straight from a pumpkin, start by cutting a round cap out of the top of the pumpkin and then scooping out the stringy insides and seeds. Then, cut the remaining pumpkin shell into small cubes or slices and boil them over medium heat until they're soft.

It turns out that throughout much of Asia and Africa, people prize the young leaves and tendrils of pumpkin vines. When raw, they are covered in a pretty thick fuzz, so it's hard to imagine eating them, but if you're willing to take a few minutes of prep time, they're a delicious and unusual treat.

The pumpkin's strings, or fibrous strands, help the seeds get something important while the pumpkin is growing on the vine: nutrients. You might think of the nutrients as if they were the seeds' food, and you might think of the strings as if they were the pumpkin's own food delivery service.