Whether as a soup, in rice and lentil dishes or processed into desserts: pumpkins can be used in many delicious ways. But there is a lot to do before you can enjoy it - especially cutting open and removing the seeds from the vegetables sometimes poses a small problem. Our step-by-step instructions will help you to get the seeds out of your pumpkins quickly and effortlessly.

The pumpkin seeds can be easily scraped out with a spoon

Core the pumpkin - practical step-by-step instructions

  1. Place the squash on a firm and stable surface. A sturdy cutting board that doesn't wobble is ideal.
  2. Take a sharp knife that is as large as possible. The tool should be slightly longer than the pumpkin. Otherwise, slicing becomes a tedious act and often leads to an uneven result.
  3. Cut the pumpkin in the middle. This step requires a little force, even with the best knife. Despite all your energy, be careful not to slip. This could result in serious injury.
  4. Place paper towels next to the cutting board.
  5. Grab a regular tablespoon. With this you spoon out the seeds vigorously from the two pumpkin halves. Go deep with the tool to get as many cores as possible at each stage and finish quickly.
  6. Put the seeds on the kitchen paper to collect them there. You can easily use them to round off various dishes. Just fry. It is important to use the kernels as soon as possible (preferably on the same day), otherwise they will quickly go bad.

Once all the seeds have been removed, you can cut your pumpkin into pieces, freeze it and/or process it as you wish.

tips

As a practical alternative to a normal spoon, an ice cream scoop is suitable for pitting pumpkins. It has sharper edges, which makes scooping out the kernels easier and speeds up the process.

In short: If you happen to have an ice cream scoop at home, use it. Otherwise, however, an ordinary spoon will also serve you well.

Important note: The skin of most types of pumpkin is NOT edible (the exception being the popular Hokkaido). We recommend removing the skin before halving and deseeding the squash. It is much easier to remove if the vegetables are still whole.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden