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Pumpkins.
That's a sign of fall.
There's also the holiday Halloween that some people observe
and they carve these up and make jack-o'-lanterns,
and you'll notice this is a nice small one.
These are the sweetest.
The smaller they are, usually the sweeter they are.
Now, most people thing of pumpkins as orange,
but I want to show ya a different color.
Down here I have some assortment of pumpkins.
This is white.
They can also be gray.
They can also be red and yellow.
In my store, they had orange, and this is the knobby ones
with these interesting things, I think they look really like Halloween.
And then this one's kind of a yellow orange.
They didn't have any of the yellow ones at my store,
but there could be some at yours.
Now, pumpkins are one of the winter squashes,
and, they are different in the fact that there's a lot more space inside,
with lot less meat for the size that it is.
And these can get huge, over 1,000 pounds.
So, the main difference and the reason
how you can tell a pumpkin from the other winter squash is this.
It's their stems.
You see how hard they are.
And they have, parts of it you can see ridges in it.
This is hard.
Really, really hard.
The winter squashes don't get that.
They usually don't even have the stem showing
'cause they pluck them and the stem comes off.
You do wanna buy a pumpkin with the stem on.
And they can be different colors.
They can be different.. number of little lines in 'em
but you do want to have at least that part covered where it is.
So I guess the hardest thing about a pumpkin is,
how do ya get into it safely, so I'm gonna show you that first.
And we're gonna use the little ones 'cause they're the best for eating
but the big ones have bigger seeds, so it depends on why you wanna pumpkin.
I wanna move these huge things out of the way...
so you can see what I'm doing.
So, this is a little pumpkin
and this would be the same for any of the pumpkins.
And you don't do a pumpkin the same way as you do winter squash
because of the seeds inside.
So ya take a knife and you just push down, and then you pull it up.
And then ya next to it ya push down and pull it up.
And that way you don't have to worry about sawing towards your hand.
Ya know I don't want ya to cut your hand off or anything.
And so ya just keep turning the pumpkin and pushing down it inside.
And ya do want a sharp knife, not a serrated knife for this.
And then, we're gonna be all the way around.
Another reason why I chose to do the little one
so we could have less time around.
Okay, and then we just pull that up.
And, what's gonna come out with it?
The seeds.
Save the seeds.
Pumpkin seeds are very good for you so I just usually have a bowl
that's available that I pull the seeds off into.
It has water in it because usually the fiber parts gonna float away
from the seeds, not necessarily but probably.
So now we've got this and we have a hole inside
and you can see inside and see inside and see the seeds.
In the big one of course you've got bigger seeds.
So now, i'm gonna pretend like I'm gonna bake or steam this.
And so I just cut down the sides.
And I turn it, you wanna do this until like five or six pieces.
Just because you don't wanna have to have any cutting towards you.
You wanna cut down toward the cutting board.
And then we're gonna pull it apart.
And there we go.
We have the inside of our pumpkin.
We're just gonna break these into pieces.
And then I'm gonna take my ice cream scoop
which I think's the best thing for getting seeds out of winter squashes.
And just scrape that into the bowl.
And then, I would do that to all the parts of course,
'cause that is one of the reasons
why after the main part of thanksgiving is over
and they start puttin' all the pumpkins on sale,
good reason to buy 'em is for the seeds.
And so now, so that I don't have to peel it now,
it's kinda hard to peel, it's just like the other winter squash,
the skin is really close.
And see I'm having to really try to peel it.
So instead of doing that, because you know I'm the easy cook,
I'm just gonna take these pieces
and I'm gonna lay 'em into a baking dish that has.. enough space for them.
And you might have to do one or two.. baking dishes full.
You could also steam them, uh by laying these pieces
on a steamer.. and steaming 'em.
I find that baking is easiest
because I can put a whole bunch in at one time.
You bake that about 350, depends
on how many pieces you put in that, how thick your pumpkin is.
You wanna do about 350, probably an hour,
and you'll just test it with a fork.
And then you can mash that up or make it into little balls.
You can make it into pumpkin puree to make the pumpkin pie.
It comes in cans and it's just pumpkin.
That's one of the best vegetables there is in a can.
When you're baking the squash to make-
I mean the pumpkin to make it into pumpkin pie.
You wanna be sure that it comes out to this texture,
that it will stand.
If it's soupier than that then your pumpkin pie will be rather runny.
Now the other thing you can use
a pumpkin for is to make it into a terrine.
So I'm gonna bring this honking one right here,
and, what I've done is I've cut the top,
and now I'm gonna take this out, and there's my seeds.
And then what I would do is I would scoop out the rest of the seeds,
and then you can put like a stew or soup in here,
and you gotta be sure that this fits in your oven.
be sure you get one that's the right height for the oven,
and then stick it in the oven and bake it about 350.
Um, the skin as you will notice, the meat is really thick here.
And so what the main time what you'll be cooking the pumpkin,
as well as the ingredients, so most people
use like a meat kind of stew to put in here,
and then the pumpkin becomes the vegetable.
But it usually stays on the side until you scrape it off.
It's a good way to have a entertaining way to do it during the fall
for Thanksgiving, Christmas, any of the holidays in the winter and fall,
because these are available through January
and February 'cause they're a winter squash.
Now, the one thing that ya need to remember, is that you need to be sure
and wash off the pumpkin before ya cut into it.
Just like any of the melons.
And in the stores nowadays they're pretty clean,
but when I got this one, look at it.
It's not really clean.
And so this I would put underneath the running water
to be sure I get all the dirt off,
because once you push the knife into the pumpkin,
you can push the dirt down into the pumpkin
and you're not gonna get it out.
So be sure you wash them first.
Pumpkins are very high in beta-carotene
and vitamin A, as you can tell by their colors.
And be sure you enjoy these pumpkins
'cause they are one of the best buys in the fall in the stores.
So go to my website and find out more information.
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