Mornin’ Pumpkin from your Victory Garden

Pumpkins! What says fall more than these delightful globes growing in your Victory Garden! Yes, they take up garden space, but in my opinion, they are definitely worth it. And I’m not talking about your average Halloween carving pumpkin. My choices for planting are specialty heirlooms that have names like Cinderella, Musque de Provence and Long Island Cheese. (Even Cinderella went to the ball in a magical pumpkin coach)

Other than the red-orange Cinderella or Rouge vif D’ Etampes pumpkins, most of the heirloom specialties are colors like blue (Queensland Blue), white (Flat Stacker) and green (Jarrahdale). I had a crazy looking pumpkin one year in my Victory Garden that was really delicious.  It was called Galeux d’Eysines – my seed catalog says it’s a great one for soups. You could barely see its salmon-pink skin because what looked like peanuts covered it almost completely. The name means “embroidered with warts.” And that’s just what it looks like.

If you’re growing pumpkins for the first time, don’t be tempted to pick yours too soon. According to the folks at Pumpkin Nook, you should measure a pumpkin every few days until you are sure it has stopped growing. Like a ripe apple, its skin should be the deep color you saw in the seed catalog. Use a sharp knife to cut it carefully from the vine and for goodness sake, make sure to leave a nice stem. Like the signs say at the pumpkin market, never carry one by its stem. Should it break off, you’ve lost half the beauty of a decor pumpkin.

 I usually grow at least one pumpkin vine every year. However, I always look forward to going to the local farmers’ market in the fall and choosing several kinds, colors and sizes different from what I grew. If you visit my home in the fall, you will find a variety of pumpkins cascading down my front steps. I also use them inside on the dining and breakfast tables and the mantle. It’s just fun mixing the colors, shapes and sizes into beautiful (edible) arrangements.

The town I’ve moved to is even known for it’s Pumpkin Festival! Woo! Hoo!! I’ve heard as many as 30,000 people gather (not this year, of course) for the weekend to enjoy pumpkin everything!

Specialty heirloom pumpkins are unique in that you can decorate with them in the fall and they keep beautifully for cooking at Christmas or even later in the winter. They will keep for three to four months if you store them in a cool dark space like a garage and place them stem side down on a piece of cardboard.  Washing with a mild chlorine solution (one cup bleach to one gallon of water) destroys any bacteria that might cause rotting.

Pumpkin also freezes well. I always cut mine in halves, just like you would a winter squash and bake it at about 375° until it’s tender. Let it cool, mash and put in freezer bags. It’s as simple as that. Now I have lots of pumpkin for my favorite recipes all year.

Grown in North America for more than 5,000 years, pumpkins are a cultivar of winter squash – or are they? I read that along with squash and gourds, they are members of the family Cucurbitaceae. Other family members are the cucumber, the watermelon, the honeydew and decorative gourds. Now…this is a quote from an article in Southern Living Magazine, “Not all gourds are squash, but many squashes are gourds and a pumpkin is a squash and also a gourd.”¹  Hmmmm….

Totally confusing, isn’t it? But that doesn’t stop my love for the squash/gourd. I love pumpkin pie -I mean extreme love -like I make them ALL year long.  Pie is not the only way I enjoy them. I do have some favorite pumpkin recipes I look forward to making as well.

One of my family’s favorite pumpkin recipes is my Cinderella pumpkin soup (My Prince Charming loves it, too). It combines leeks, fresh thyme and rosemary, curry and heavy cream with the pureed pumpkin. Just before adding the cream, I remove the herbs and use my immersion blender to break down the chunks until it’s smooth. We finish it by scattering pumpkin seeds we roasted and crumbled bacon on top. Oh, yum!

My kids and I love roasting the seeds from our freshly cut pumpkins. Their main job is to wash the gooey seeds in warm water to get all the pumpkin strings and residue off. We burned some the first couple of times we roasted them-the smoke alarm got a work out that night! Then I learned that boiling the seeds in saltwater for about ten minutes not only will finish the cleaning job, but the seeds will also cook more evenly. After boiling, we put them in a colander and dry them thoroughly so they will be crispier.

Once dry, we coat them with olive oil or melted butter and add seasonings to suit our cravings – cinnamon and sugar for a sweet tooth, something like chipotle for a spicy treat or sometimes just sea salt. Then we spread them out on parchment paper-lined baking sheets – the thinner the better for crispiness – and bake at 325° for about 25 minutes. So good for snacking and a topping for soup or salads!

Pumpkin smoothies are one of my indulgences for breakfast, and that’s where my frozen pumpkin comes in handy. Because of its sweet flavor, a good one to puree and freeze for smoothies is the Musquee de Provence. A whole one, pureed and frozen in the fall is ready for smoothies any time of the year. It’s so simple. We just put the puree into the blender with half a frozen banana, add spices like nutmeg and cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice), and almond milk for a healthy, filling, delicious treat. And if you’re watching your weight, it’s low in calories.

If you want to get really adventurous, how about pumpkin ice cream? Williams Sonoma has an excellent recipe with a 4.7-star rating at this website https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/pumpkin-ice-cream.html. The cinnamon, ginger and brown sugar make for a sweet, spicy treat. If you’re serving adults, they recommend adding a tablespoon of bourbon during the last few minutes of churning. Then they top it with one of my favorite spices – freshly ground nutmeg.

Another favorite at my house is pumpkin butter. It’s a nice treat and I often make it and give it to friends at Christmas. The recipe I prefer is from allrecipes. It combines pumpkin with apple juice, sugar and spices – cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. You simply put it all in a large saucepan, bring it to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. The recipe is here: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13632/pumpkin-butter/.

Have you ever had pumpkin brownies? I found a recipe on the fit foodie finds website that I think is perfect and they are healthy. Grain-free, instead of regular flour, they are made with coconut flour and sweetened with maple syrup and coconut sugar.  The chocolate flavor comes from dark chocolate chips. Definitely a much healthier choice for my kids- oh who am I trying to kid – this is just plain decadence! If you want to try it, this is the website: https://fitfoodiefinds.com/grain-free-pumpkin-brownies/.

Finally, if Thanksgiving finds you looking for an impressive pumpkin dessert that’s NOT pumpkin pie, how about Taste of Home’s Pumpkin Cheesecake? Once your guests see it sitting on the dessert table, they will be holding back on seconds to save room for this delicious treat. It’s pretty basic as cheesecakes go, but the combination of spices like ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon with the pumpkin is like heaven on earth, y’all. With a sour cream topping and a scattering of roasted pecans, it’s a beauty to behold and tastes as good as it looks. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pumpkin-cheesecake/

If you have never grown a pumpkin vine in your Victory Garden, I hope you will five it a go next season. Your seed catalog is the best source to help determine which pumpkins to grow for soups, pies or desserts. Beautiful, fun to grow, and delicious – a triple threat for sure!!

Happy Planting!

DeeAnn

The Victory Garden Gal