The fruits, which weigh up to two kilograms, are truly magnificent to look at: their bright orange-red color puts you in a good mood just by looking at them and makes your mouth water. But how do you know when your home-grown Hokkaido pumpkins are really ripe?
A knock test provides certainty
Ripe fruits have a rich, orange-red color, with no green spots to be seen anywhere. However, there are also Hokkaido varieties that are green in color, which is why this external feature cannot always be used to determine ripeness. The tapping test, on the other hand, is more informative: tap the skin gently with your knuckle and the ripe pumpkin should sound dull and hollow. The base of the stalk also gives an indication of the ripeness of the fruit: it should be dry, possibly already dried out and discolored brown.
Harvest Hokkaido pumpkin properly
Once the pumpkin is ripe, you can harvest it. Be careful not to injure the base of the handle. Otherwise the Hokkaido pumpkin would no longer be storable and would rot quickly. It is best to cut the fruit off at least one centimeter above the base of the stem with a sharp knife or pruning shears.
How to properly store Hokkaido pumpkin:
- only intact fruit without damage
- Do not remove stem base (but stem can be shortened)
- Do not wash the bowl!
- Only store ripe fruit with a hard skin
- ideal storage temperature: 10 to 14 °C
- keep dry and airy, for example hanging in a net
Hokkaido pumpkins can usually be stored for about three to four months. Although you can read in many guides that this pumpkin has a shelf life of up to six or even eight months, experience shows that its quality begins to suffer after just three to four months. If you don't have a cool, dry storage room (a basement or pantry would be ideal), you can also freeze the Hokkaido pumpkin.
Freeze Hokkaido Pumpkin
- Cut raw pumpkin into small pieces
- remove the seeds and stems
- Shell does not need to be removed
- Pour portions into freezer bags or freezer containers and freeze
You can also freeze the Hokkaido pumpkin as a ready-cooked mush so that you can later use it to make soup or baby food all the more quickly. Cut the fruit into small pieces and let them steam in a little water for 20 minutes. Once the squash is soft, drain the water and mash the flesh into a coarse pulp.
tips and tricks
Hokkaido pumpkins are best harvested before the first frost. The fruits can also be damaged quickly in other ways if they are wet and cold. In such a case, harvest the fruit before it is ripe and leave it to ripen in a warm place for another week or two.