Pumpkin Puree

I've been finding, visiting and reading lots of new blogs in the past  week or so.

Recently, FoodComaBlog.com posted a lovely recipe for Butternut Squash Soup and as I was reading the comments, took particular note of a reader tip on how to best prepare the squash for pureeing, it sounded so slick I decided to try it myself with pumpkins and it worked out so well I wanted to share it with you.

To start off, I sliced the tops of the pumkins off, just like you would for Halloween carving.  Then I scooped out the seeds and pulp.  Our chickens happily eat the pulp, skin and any other pumpkin bits we give them, so the pulp went into the chicken bowl...

The seeds went right into a sieve all set to be rinsed and toasted. 

Then I split the pumpkins in half...

 ...put them in a roasting pan with just a bit of water in it and baked them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until they were fork tender.  They were soft enough to scoop out with a soup spoon.  From there I just put them in my blender and pureed them, then measured 1 cup increments into zip-close bags and froze them for later use! 

Cooking with Fresh Pumpkins

With Halloween on it's way later this month the local stores and produce stands are loading up on pumpkins.  I picked up a couple of sugar pumpkins earlier this week and I'm planning on pureeing them, then freezing them so I can use them for pies & other baked goods later this fall and winter.  If you're not familiar with sugar pumpkins, they are a typically smaller variety of pumpkin with an especially thick flesh that makes them an extremely poor choice for carving but an excellent choice for cooking.  The flesh is also sweeter than that of your typical carving pumpkin.  We used to grow them when we had a garden, but we really haven't been gardening for a few years now (long story perhaps to share another day). 

In the past I've either boiled or baked the pumpkin and I haven't been particularly happy with either choice.  Boiling the pumpkin tends to result in a watery and less tasty puree than baking, but baking seems to result in hard, crusty spots on the surface of the pumpkin flesh that doesn't puree very well.

So today, I'm asking for your help.  What is your favorite method of preparing pumpkin for preserving?  Do you freeze the results, or can them?  I'm looking forward to hearing your comments, thoughts and ideas - and feel free to share your favorite fresh pumpkin recipes too!