As Halloween quickly approaches, people are flocking to nearby pumpkin patches to pick out the perfect"" pumpkin for decorating, carving or baking.
Finding this ""perfect"" pumpkin can be a hard task. In general, the pumpkin should be a deep orange color with no bruises or cuts and still have the stem attached. Pick-your-own pumpkin patches offer more variety and are generally better than the supermarket.
Paula Anderson from Anderson's Pleasant Patch Pumpkins, located in Cottage Grove, Wis., says her farm sells all varieties of hybrid pumpkins ranging from orange and white pumpkins to green and even red varieties.
While pumpkins used for decoration and carving are usually on the larger side, pumpkins used for baking should be relatively small. The typical sugar pumpkin used in baking is only eight to 10 inches in diameter. These pumpkins are sweeter than Jack-o-Lanterns and have less stringy insides. This type is usually used to make pumpkin pie, bread, butter, cheesecake, cookies, soup and even beer.
Drinking pumpkin flavored beer is a good way to get ready for Halloween festivities. It will be hard to resist drinking a pumpkin beer when it smells like a hot pumpkin pie straight out of the oven. To make pumpkin flavored beer at home, scoop out the pumpkin meat, place it on cookie sheets and let it bake for about an hour.
After baking, mash the pumpkin and add the nutmeg and cinnamon to the grain bag and continue with the brewing process. Beware of how much pumpkin you add though. Adding too much pumpkin to your beer will make it syrupy, but add too little and you won't taste it at all. If you are looking to taste pumpkin beer for the first time, some good varieties include Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, Post Road Pumpkin Ale and Blue Moon Pumpkin Harvest.
While pumpkin flavored beer may be a relatively new variation on pumpkin food, pumpkin pie has been around for centuries.
Years ago, people would cut off the top of the pumpkin, remove the seeds and fill the inside with milk, honey and spices before baking it over a fire and eating straight out of the pumpkin. Today, you can buy canned pumpkins for baking or make a pie from scratch using a picked pumpkin.
To make a pumpkin pie from scratch, first wash the outside of the pumpkin off then cut it in half vertically.
The next step is to scoop out the pumpkin insides. Your hands work well for this task, but you can also use an ice cream scooper or a spoon. After all the strings and seeds are removed, cut off the stem and put the pumpkin halves in a microwaveable bowl for cooking. Then fill the bowl halfway with water and put it in the microwave for 20 to 30 minutes. When the pumpkin is done cooking, you need to scoop out the softer ""meat"" part from the outside shell and blend it for two to three minutes. The pumpkin is now mixed and ready to be put into a pie.
The pumpkin seeds that were removed can be roasted and eaten as a snack. To do this, wash the seeds after they have been removed from the pumpkin so there is no stringy orange meat left on them. After the seeds are dry and your oven has heated up to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, set the seeds on a baking sheet and cover them with spices.
The most common recipe uses four tablespoons of melted butter and one tablespoon of seasoned salt. After the seeds are evenly covered in spices, bake them in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until they turn golden brown. When they come out of the oven, sprinkle them with a pinch of salt and enjoy.
As delicious as roasted pumpkin seeds may be, you might want to think twice about how often you snack on them. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, one cup of roasted, salted pumpkin seeds contains 285 calories. In comparison, one cup of cooked pumpkin flesh has only 49 calories.
Pumpkin flesh also contains high amounts of beta carotene - a healthy phytonutrient that is converted to Vitamin A in the body. In addition, pumpkin flesh contains potassium, iron, fiber and protein, according to the USDA.
While the majority of a college student's Halloween may center around pumpkin-flavored beers, take some friends out to local pumpkin patches, pick out your perfect pumpkin and try out different ways to cook it.
*Local patches*
Anderson's Pleasant Patch Pumpkins
2313 Koshkonong Rd.
Cottage Grove, Wis.
Saturday and Sunday
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday by appointment
Eplegaarden Orchard
2273 Fitchburg Rd.
Fitchburg, Wis.
Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Schuster's Playtime Farm
1326 U.S. Highway 12 and 18
Deerfield, Wis.
Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
