Making use of leftover pumpkin this Halloween

Halloween is spooky season, but if there’s one thing scarier than fright night itself, it’s the thought of carved pumpkins going to waste.

According to Hubbub, just short of 40 million pumpkins¹ will be bought for Halloween this year, and a whopping 22.2 million will go to waste and be left uneaten.

While Jack O’ Lanterns will be flickering from many a window or front door, that’s a frightening £32.6 million worth of edible food going to waste.

The good news is there’s plenty you can do with the insides of a pumpkin, from the juicy flesh to the delicious seeds. Read on for eerie ideas…

Make our Ghoul-ash Halloween Pumpkin Cauldrons

There are plenty of recipes which use pumpkins as cauldrons or bowls, telling you to ‘discard the contents’. Scrap that. Our Ghoul-ash Pumpkin Cauldrons make use of the sweet flesh by cutting it into chunks and mixing with our Plant-Based Mince and plenty of spooky spices.

SEE THIS RECIPE SEE ALL HALLOWEEN RECIPES

Meat-free goulash served in a pumpkin

Make a Mince & Pumpkin Cottage Pie

We’re well and truly in the season of comfort food. And if you check the dictionary definition of comfort food it’ll say something involving the words ‘cottage pie’. Take your plant-based cottage pie recipe to the next level by adding in cubed pumpkin, as well as the usual veg – we’re all about eating more plants at Meatless Farm.

Tip: smaller pumpkins are great for pies, and the flesh of larger pumpkins can be used in soups and curries.

Meat-free cottage pie with Meatless Farm mince, peas, carrot, mashed potato and broccoli

Roast the seeds

These recipes are great, but ‘what about the pumpkin seeds?’ we hear you say. Simple: roast them. Don’t let any of your pumpkin go to waste, as the seeds make a delicious crunchy snack.

All you need to do is rinse the stringy pumpkin flesh under cold water to release the seeds. Then, bake in the oven at 200C for between 5 and 20 mins (depending on the size of the seeds).

To add flavour to the seeds you could try boiling them in salted water, tossing them in chilli or curry powder, or dusting them with cinnamon and sugar.

See, Halloween doesn’t have to be *that* scary.

¹ Hubbub: Eat Your Pumpkin