As of: September 17, 2023 11:45 a.m
Hundreds of pumpkin varieties grow worldwide – both edible and inedible. The fruits are healthy, tasty and can be stored for a long time. What is the best way to prepare pumpkin? Tips and recipes.
Whether butternut, nutmeg or the popular Hokkaido: around 800 different pumpkin varieties grow worldwide, all of which have been crossed and bred from five bitter-tasting wild varieties. Around 200 of them are edible, the rest are inedible ornamental fruits. Pumpkins, which from a botanical point of view are not vegetables but berries, originally come from Latin America. In the 16th century they came to Europe through the Spanish.
Only buy pumpkins with stems
Pumpkins are usually available in stores from the end of August and are in season until late autumn. When shopping, it is advisable to choose smaller specimens with a stem. They have firmer flesh with less fiber and a more intense flavor than large fruits. In addition, the pumpkin should not have any soft spots or even pressure points. A ripe pumpkin sounds slightly hollow when tapped on the shell and has a woody stem. Fruits without stems can contain putrefactive bacteria and dry out more quickly.
Prepare pumpkin correctly
To cut pumpkins into pieces, you need a knife with a strong blade.
As a soup, side dish, in risotto or pickled – pumpkin is suitable for a wide variety of dishes. The aromatic fruits can even be made into jam, pudding, compote or cake. However, it is not easy to break up the hard shell. One option: wash the pumpkin, then cut it in half, chop it with an electric knife or a hatchet and peel it with a sharp knife.
Bake or boil pumpkin, then chop it up
Alternatively, you can bake the fruit in the oven at 200 degrees for around 40 to 60 minutes and then chop it up. It is also possible to cook a pumpkin whole (be sure to pierce it first), then chop it up and use a knife or spoon to de-seed and peel it. Some varieties, for example Hokkaido and spaghetti squash, do not need to be peeled; you can eat the peel. Depending on the variety, the cooking time is between 15 and 30 minutes; stuffed pumpkins take 45 to 60 minutes.
Spice pumpkin: exotic flavors and herbs
Since not all pumpkins have a distinct aroma of their own, they should be seasoned well when preparing them. Black pepper, garlic, paprika and chili powder, nutmeg or ginger give the slightly sweet pumpkin a spicy note. Exotic flavors go particularly well, such as ginger, curry powder and curry spice mixtures as well as coconut milk or grated coconut. Additionally, lemon or lime juice gives pumpkin a fresh kick.
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Honey, cinnamon, cloves, orange and vanilla are particularly suitable for sweet dishes. These spices can also be used to flavor spicy preparations such as pumpkin soup. Fresh or dried herbs are also ideal: dill, borage, parsley, chives, lovage, wild garlic or coriander, as well as Mediterranean flavors and spice mixtures – such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, tarragon or basil.
Which pumpkin for which dish?
In general, aromatic varieties such as butternut squash are particularly suitable as a vegetable side dish; for baked goods, for example, Hokkaido pumpkin; sweet-tasting varieties such as nutmeg pumpkin are recommended for desserts and salads.
Storing pumpkins
Always store pumpkins as cool and dark as possible. Some varieties, including Hokkaido, last for several months at temperatures of around 10 degrees. But they can also be frozen. To do this, first cut it up, remove the seeds, fill the diced pulp into cans or freezer bags and put it in the freezer. With Hokkaido, the peel can stay on even when frozen.
Healthy pumpkin: low in calories and rich in vitamins
Pumpkin is rightly becoming increasingly popular in the kitchen: one pumpkin fruit only contains around 25 calories per 100 grams of pulp and supplies the body with vitamins, potassium, calcium and zinc. The silica contained in the pulp is good for connective tissue, skin and nails.
Caution: Ornamental pumpkins are poisonous
They are ideal for autumn decoration, but completely unsuitable for consumption: ornamental pumpkins.
Ornamental pumpkins may only be used as decoration. As delicious as some ornamental pumpkin varieties may look, they are poisonous. They contain so-called cucurbitacins, which have been bred from the edible pumpkin varieties.
If in doubt, you can tell whether a pumpkin is edible or whether it is an inedible ornamental pumpkin by tasting the raw pumpkin. “If the pumpkin tastes terribly bitter, please do not eat it. The toxic bitter substances damage the gastrointestinal tract, can lead to nausea and stomach pain, and in extreme cases even death,” warns nutritional doctor Dr. Matthias Riedl.
Planting pumpkin: Always buy seeds
Riedl also advises that when growing pumpkins, you should always buy original seeds and not use seeds from your own cultivation: “Fertilization in the open field often creates wild forms and these also produce the poisonous bitter substances.”
Further information
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Schleswig-Holstein Magazine
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Schleswig-Holstein Magazine | March 30, 2023 | 19:30 o’clock