A large pumpkin is usually far too much for one meal. You can quickly and easily freeze leftover pumpkin flesh. We will explain how this works and what you should pay attention to when freezing autumn vegetables.
Pumpkin can be frozen raw or cooked
Prepare pumpkin
Before freezing, the squash must be cut up. For this you need a large, sharp knife and a kitchen board:
- Halve the squash lengthwise.
- Using a tablespoon, scrape out the seeds and the soft, fibrous flesh that surrounds them.
- Quarter the pumpkin and peel, depending on the variety.
- Cut into bite-sized cubes.
Freeze raw pumpkin
Place the pieces on a baking sheet or large plate lined with parchment paper and place in the coldest part of the freezer for one to two hours. Then fill the cubes in freezer bags and freeze them again.
This so-called shock freezing prevents the pumpkin cubes from freezing together into a large lump. These remain individually portionable and you can always remove as much pumpkin flesh as you need.
Freeze grated pumpkin
If you grate the raw pumpkin before freezing, you can put it in a freezer bag and flatten it out. The autumn vegetables take up a little less space in the freezer. The pumpkin rasps can be wonderfully processed into pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie.
Freeze pumpkin puree
If you plan to use the pumpkin to make a soup or puree, it is advisable to freeze the autumn vegetables that have already been made into a puree:
- Prepare the pumpkin and cook until soft for about twenty minutes.
- Drain the water and puree the pumpkin flesh.
- Allow the pumpkin puree to cool and fill into freezer bags.
- Alternatively, you can smear it into ice cube trays and freeze it. In this way, the puree can be removed in portions.
tips
Don't just throw away the pumpkin seeds. Cleaned from the pulp, dried and roasted, the kernels are a delicious snack that can also be used as a soup ingredient or as an addition to baked goods.