THE GRAND PUMPKIN EXPERIMENT & not quite disaster
Now, understand, i AM a pumpkin-holic - I love the stuff!!!!!!!!
soooo.......
We canned pumpkin this weekend, pureed & dehydrated or froze puree. froze seeds for roasting later. sounds like a REALLY productive weekend doesnt it??
Now, understand, i AM a pumpkin-holic - I love the stuff!!!!!!!!
soooo.......
We canned pumpkin this weekend, pureed & dehydrated or froze puree. froze seeds for roasting later. sounds like a REALLY productive weekend doesnt it??
and it was.........
sort of.
at this point i am counting the weekend as "INSTRUCTIVE" rather than successful..first and foremost somehow i missed the memo that two medium lg pumpkins will give you more than 18cups of puree!!!! and that 2 LITTLE ones will FILL 10pints of pumpkin chunks.
yikes.. -- so now you can understand when i say i made a Major miscalculation when i talked my friend into getting 19 med lg pumpkins...
sort of.
at this point i am counting the weekend as "INSTRUCTIVE" rather than successful..first and foremost somehow i missed the memo that two medium lg pumpkins will give you more than 18cups of puree!!!! and that 2 LITTLE ones will FILL 10pints of pumpkin chunks.
yikes.. -- so now you can understand when i say i made a Major miscalculation when i talked my friend into getting 19 med lg pumpkins...
sigh.... FIRST mistake..
Second mistake - the Reason we bought 19 of them was the price (or rather LACK of price) you know that old saying 'you get what you paid for?? yea.... that...
these apparently were rather on the 'old side' -- not great texture - not great taste - not great smell when cooked..
Third mistake (besides how many) DID NOT take into consideration How HARD it is to cut and peel a pumpkin (tho the 2 little ones were easier to peel) ESPECIALLY if you dont have top of the line knives.
her son was taking bets on who would cut themselves first.. happily he lost That bet.. the worst part is both of us have Carpel Tunnel problems and just do NOT have the hand strength for this kind of project. i for one, if i am feeling this crazy ever again will need someone Else to cut them for me.
Fourth mistake.. dehydrating pumpkin (again sort of) - the dehydrator i picked up at a thrift store Works
and works well. got 5 small sheets of dried pumpkin after about 18hrs........
and i tried several trays in the oven as well which again kind of worked.. the oven was on nearly 18hrs.
and they are SORT of dehydrated. one tray was near burnt & the other two still a bit leathery-
i gave up at that point.. none appeared edible..------------------
Good to know things here: Dollar tree had packages of 10 sheets of parchment paper for $1 and they are just about PERFECT for this sort of thing.. DT also carries cheesecloth at a buck a whack.. good to know.
and btw Aluminum foil under the puree - Bad idea.. wont come OFF the dried puree..
so about 5 SMALL sheets of dried puree to run thru blender to powder it.. ALL that work and ALL that time for about maybe half a cup??? not seeing a good return on this one..
so what do we have to show for ourselves... 26 pints of pumpkin chunks.. 6 bags of pumpkin puree in
freezer (at 6cups per bag) maybe?? half a cup of powdered pumpkin?? and a gallon bag of seeds for
roasting..
all very bland/near tasteless but will, we think/hope, blend well with store canned pumpkin to stretch it and we will add spices etc to make the many pumpkin things we love to make.
and did i mention the TWELVE pumpkins we DID NOT use???
(that a very nice lady wanted for HER pumpkin plans even tho i TOLD her our results.. hopefully she will
have a better overall result..
Second mistake - the Reason we bought 19 of them was the price (or rather LACK of price) you know that old saying 'you get what you paid for?? yea.... that...
these apparently were rather on the 'old side' -- not great texture - not great taste - not great smell when cooked..
Third mistake (besides how many) DID NOT take into consideration How HARD it is to cut and peel a pumpkin (tho the 2 little ones were easier to peel) ESPECIALLY if you dont have top of the line knives.
her son was taking bets on who would cut themselves first.. happily he lost That bet.. the worst part is both of us have Carpel Tunnel problems and just do NOT have the hand strength for this kind of project. i for one, if i am feeling this crazy ever again will need someone Else to cut them for me.
Fourth mistake.. dehydrating pumpkin (again sort of) - the dehydrator i picked up at a thrift store Works
and works well. got 5 small sheets of dried pumpkin after about 18hrs........
and i tried several trays in the oven as well which again kind of worked.. the oven was on nearly 18hrs.
and they are SORT of dehydrated. one tray was near burnt & the other two still a bit leathery-
i gave up at that point.. none appeared edible..------------------
Good to know things here: Dollar tree had packages of 10 sheets of parchment paper for $1 and they are just about PERFECT for this sort of thing.. DT also carries cheesecloth at a buck a whack.. good to know.
and btw Aluminum foil under the puree - Bad idea.. wont come OFF the dried puree..
so about 5 SMALL sheets of dried puree to run thru blender to powder it.. ALL that work and ALL that time for about maybe half a cup??? not seeing a good return on this one..
so what do we have to show for ourselves... 26 pints of pumpkin chunks.. 6 bags of pumpkin puree in
freezer (at 6cups per bag) maybe?? half a cup of powdered pumpkin?? and a gallon bag of seeds for
roasting..
all very bland/near tasteless but will, we think/hope, blend well with store canned pumpkin to stretch it and we will add spices etc to make the many pumpkin things we love to make.
and did i mention the TWELVE pumpkins we DID NOT use???
(that a very nice lady wanted for HER pumpkin plans even tho i TOLD her our results.. hopefully she will
have a better overall result..
