Topic: Raw pumpkin and chard stems

[Vinlander]

I'm a sceptic about cooked pumpkin and squash. I grow them for the delicious seeds.

I've never found any cooking method that tastes as good as a mediocre carrot.

However I do like them raw and grated into salads.

My question:- is there any way to preserve pumpkin that retains its crunch??

Has anyone tried making a pumpkin sauerkraut?

What does dried pumpkin taste like? as good as dried apple or mango??

To recompense you for reading this I'd like to pass on an excellent recipe which also uses another otherwise worthless resource - chard stems. The lack of flavour isn't a disadvantage for this - all you want is the crunch and the salty juiciness.

Chard stem and pumpkin slaw

Ideally use the very biggest crispest chard stems (fast grown in good soil), but if they aren't great then the skin/membrane may be loose and is best removed - no worries - it still works.

Slice thinly across the grain of the stem to cut the fibres short... 2mm-4mm max.

Throw in a bowl and coarsely grate about twice as much firm raw pumpkin (discard the softest inner layer).

Add decent mayonnaise to taste. Eat within the hour even if stored in a fridge.

It is just as nice as coleslaw and much more tender - I like it slapped on buttered bread and topped with slices of leftover Xmas fowl.

Enjoy.

[jennym]

Have used pumpkin in chutneys, but the type is important depending on the texture you want. Crown Prince gives a very textured result, only really suitable with thick tomato chutneys I think. I used one which I think was called sweet dumpling, or sweet potato dumpling, a smallish odd shaped squash, which has smoother flesh and thats ok in some chutneys. Neither gave what I would call a crunchy result.
I would think that the smoother ones are better if you want to preserve them in a sweet type of preserve, like when you do marrow & ginger jam, but admit I haven't tried using anything but marrow in that.
Have tried drying pumpkin, but it doesn't seem to be very sweet, but then I used Crown Prince again.
I'm sure you could candy some of the sweeter varieties successfully, in the same way that you can candy lemon peel.
As for flavour and cooking in general, they seem very tasty to me! One of my quick favourites is cubed squash fried in butter & oil with a little chopped bacon & onion, bit of salt & pepper. I don't know what varieties you grow and I'm no squash expert, but there seem to me to be very wide differences in taste and texture so maybe try one or two a bit different this year?

Chard recipe looks fine - but like many I don't like the leaf anyway, most of the chard I grow is for the stem, which is great in stir fries. 

[Columbus]

My pumpkin and ginger chutney was the best I`ve ever made, the chunks of pumpkin stayed firm in the chutney but were pre-cooked. No recipe, I just made it up from what I had. I`m now using pumpkin layered in a cobbler with beans and other stuff which is very tasty. I sometimes roast pumpkin with fennel stems, discard the stem afterwards, or with rosemary. Sometimes with ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. I roast squash in their skins and cut the flesh out afterwards which reminds me of filleting fish.

I have several small varieties of pumpkin, but I don`t know what they are, which have a much creamier and smoother texture than the big jack o lantern or atlantic giant pumpkins, more like butternut squash.

Enjoy, Col  :)

[Stevens706]

Thanks Vinlander

I’ve just got a book which substitute’s vegetables such as butternut squash, carrots, potatoes etc for butter, my daughter did a orange cup cake recipe that used butternut squash and they were really good.
Link to the book below

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Velvet-Chocolate-Heartache-feel-good/dp/0593062361/ref=pd_sim_b_3/280-0779239-8010768

[Vinlander]

Have tried drying pumpkin, but it doesn't seem to be very sweet, but then I used Crown Prince again.
I'm sure you could candy some of the sweeter varieties successfully, in the same way that you can candy lemon peel.
 

Thanks for that.

I may try drying - I could add a bit of sugar.

I hadn't thought about candying - despite the fact that I regularly use candied ginger in stir-fries (the fresh kind is never there when you want it).

I might even be able to use it in slaw! A bit of sugar won't be a problem provided I can get most of it off.

Cheers

[pigeonseed]

Thanks for  the interesting recipe.

I find grilled squash really tasty - again it does depend on the squash. But grilled slices of marina di chioggia with salt and rosemary are very tasty and not watery at all.

Does grilled squash not do it for you?

[Vinlander]

Does grilled squash not do it for you?

Thanks Pigeonseed, I will try it - though when I tried battered fritters I found it much better to use baby pumpkin in them - they actually make the the best fritters of all... (apart from maybe aubergine, and assuming you have a pumpkin grown for  flavour not appearance).

The real test of a recipe I find is whether you can use carrot instead - and whenever you can I always, always prefer carrot. The only exception is raw - where it is a tie because pumpkin is a bit more tender - which is a big advantage in slaw...

The secondary issue is to do with the size of the d@#n things (with the exception of the delicata kind).

If it's worth eating then can I either: a) use a lot of pumpkin quickly so I have less left over to go off? or b) make the recipe using preserved pumpkin of some kind?

Incidentally, I have similar reservations about the taste of orange sweet-potato - I'd always prefer carrot.

It's not an anti-amerIndian thing because  I really like the white-flesh sweet-potato - it hasn't as intense a flavour but that doesn't matter because it is a subtle improvement on ordinary potato (superb roasted) - which makes it more useful than a difficult and inferior carrot substitute - to my mind.

At least pumpkins are easy to grow, produce tasty babies, have delicious and nutritious seeds, and also make up to half your allotment look well cultivated for a few months!

Cheers

[1066]

At least pumpkins are easy to grow, produce tasty babies, have delicious and nutritious seeds, and also make up to half your allotment look well cultivated for a few months!
Cheers

 ;D very true!
With the bigger pumpkins I've tried freezing some of the slices, admittedly to roast, but the freezing process seems ok so far

[Vinlander]

With the bigger pumpkins I've tried freezing some of the slices, admittedly to roast, but the freezing process seems ok so far

Thanks 1066 - I've always assumed frozen pumpkin would thaw to mush like so many other things... if it doesn't then I need to reconsider - though I doubt it will be firm enough to grate!

You really must try pumpkin&chard slaw - my wife usually has a very low opinion of my inventions (in all fields) but it took four days of slaw every night before she got tired of it! (however the pumpkin is still mostly there - grinning defiantly at me).

I've also tried it with chinese cabbage - pretty good - but I prefer the chard version because there are so many other wonderful things you can do with chinese cabbage.

I don't know why it took so long to percolate through my skull - I've seen grated pumpkin mentioned before - possibly even slaw, but why, oh why didn't I think of using those otherwise useless chard stems before they all got frosted to £#<$ ???

That's life...

[1066]

the slaw does sounds good, and I've stored that one in the memory banks so to speak - I miss raw salads in winter and am always looking for "new versions" - there is only so much red cabbage I can eat!

I'm pretty certain the slices that have been frozen wouldn't be great grated (  ::) )  if you see what I mean, and it's only my 1st attempt at freezing them (after I read something on here), so it's still a bit trial and error  :D But then aren't most things in the kitchen / garden  ;D

[FennelandFern]

It sure sounds like you love carrots Vinlander! Sometimes pumpkin can be quite bitter, and this is what put my husband off it for years. But this year we grew 'Delica', which was a nice size, and was happy scrambling over our trellis. I roasted it for about half an hour at 200 with a little bit of olive oil until the edges had browned and caramelised, and it was the sweetest, nuttiest tasting thing ever. It was amazing, and my husband then started berating me for not growing more of them! Yum.
I think that's the best way of doing pumpkin - steaming them is a bit grim. And like you, I adore the seeds!