Up Keeping the Halloween Spirit in a Delicious Way

Up keeping the Halloween Spirit in a Delicious Way

Ingredients

Pumpkin

Vegetable Oil

Garlic Salt

Salt

one large bowl

Bucket

large digging spoon

Pumpkins at the pumpkin patch!

Going to the pumpkin patch can be one of the most exciting adventures a child can experience. Not only is carving a pumpkin a good way for a child to express their creative side, it’s also very fun. The excitement and happiness that children share while getting ready for pumpkin festivities is enjoyable for most parents. Then, bam! Once that orange cap is off, there is highlighter colored orange gooey innards, guts and seeds all over! While the kids are having a ball digging out the innards and squeezing the orange goop, the adults are focused on the goopy orange mess left on the surface. The parents’ once enjoyment of watching the child carving the pumpkin is over. If carving pumpkins is not done right it can be messy, but not to worry if you follow this process, you will surely get things done in a fun, organized and even delicious way.

All kids know that great feeling of enjoyment they get while walking around their sprawling neighborhoods on Hallows eve going trick or treating. Illuminated Jack-O’-Lanterns often sit and watch, as dressed up children admire their spooky faces, on their way to candy bowl. The tradition of the carving of the jack- o’- lanterns extends back to 1700’s Ireland where the local Irishman had a common folklore of a man named Stingy Jack. Stingy Jack made a deal with the devil that he didn't have to go down to hell, but when he died the doors of Heaven would not let him in. So, he had to wander the Earth for all eternity with only a candle. Thus, this tradition was started on by the locals and brought on to America with the Irish immigrants. Carving pumpkins is a wonderful past time and it’s an exciting tradition to uphold to the new generations. There is nothing better than seeing the enjoyment of a little kids face after completing his first jack-o’-lantern. So, learn how to complete and keep a wonderful seasonal tradition alive by carving and utilizing the wonderful seeds of the beautiful pumpkin this fall.

Me picking out the perfect
 pumpkin!

The pumpkins I purchased at a pumpkin patch

The first step in carving a pumpkin is: getting the actual pumpkin! It is one of the most exciting parts of the process. Look up a local pumpkin patch. Some pumpkin patches have pre picked pumpkins for sale, and others give you the thrill of physically going to pick out a pumpkin from the field. Once you have picked out the perfect pumpkin and paid, you can load it into your car and head on home. Once at home, put the pumpkin outside your house until you are ready to carve it! In the meantime imagine the face or picture you want to see on your pumpkin.

John, Jack and Paige and the
 Pumpkin without its cap

 When you are ready to begin the fun of carving the pumpkin make sure you have all the materials needed. If your pumpkin has been outdoors for a while, then let your pumpkin thaw out for 10 minutes at room temperature just to make the carving process simpler. Carving the pumpkin outdoors eliminates the mess that may stress some parents out, but carving the pumpkins indoors is a commonality upon many.  Wherever you are carving, make sure you have a bowl for seeds, and a bucked for goop. This will eliminate the sorting process later. The first step is analyzing the pumpkin and picking the side which will make your creative face look the best! The next step, with a large knife, preferable a special pumpkin carving large knife, cut a few inches around the stem, leaving a circle at the top of the pumpkin. Leave the cap of the pumpkin to the side. Next, use your hands, or a digging scoop to get all the goop. Put goop into one bucket and any loose seeds you find on the way into the seed bowl. Once the pumpkin inside is completely hollow and free of seeds, it’s time to carve! Wash the outside any gooey threadlike goo on the outside of the pumpkin off. After the pumpkin is dry, all you need is your imagination and a marker!

Jack with Jack

Think of what you want on your pumpkin. You can stick with the classic Jack-O-Lantern face, like our example, or attempt to incorporate a more modern, intricate design such as a spider web. After you have decided on your design, you can map out and draw it on the dry surface of the pumpkin with a sharpie or permanent marker. Once the super scary face is drawn in black on the pumpkin, use the medium knife to carve out larger features like the mouth, and use a smaller knife to carve out more detailed features like the eyes. Make sure to pop out the pieces after carving each one and add it to the guy bucket. To dispose of the guts of the pumpkin in a proper and environmentally friendly way you can add them to your compost pile. If you have one, or you can throw them in the woods since pumpkins are compostable. Once the face is finished, there is one last step before perfection.

The final product

Finally, you have successfully accomplished carving out your Jack-O-Lantern. To complete your work and make it look even better, wipe off your pumpkin with a cloth to remove any dirt or residue from the pumpkin. Illuminate your face and make it stand out by placing a lit tea candle inside the hollow pumpkin on an even surface. Lastly, display your decoration on your porch or driveway for others to enjoy throughout the Halloween season!

Gold brown look is what you
              want means the seeds are done

After adding the finishing touch of a candle to your pumpkin, it’s time for the delicious part. Rinse off the separated seeds in a colander in cold water, making sure no bright orange pumpkin goop is remaining on the seeds. Let the seeds dry out on a paper towel for about five minutes. While the seeds are dehydrating, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Depending on the size and genetics of the pumpkin, seed amounts vary. To be safe, use one tablespoon of vegetable oil per cup of seeds yielded. Dust a cookie sheet pan with vegetable oil prior to laying the seeds down in a single layer fashion. Shake the pan back and forth or use a spatula to turn over the seeds in effort to coat each seed with a layer of vegetable oil. Next, shake about ½ teaspoon of garlic salt and ½ teaspoon of table salt over the seeds on the baking sheet. At this point, the seeds are now ready to be put in the oven. Set a timer for 45 minutes on your oven. On a separate timer, set an alarm to shake or turn the seeds over every 7 or so minuets in order to prevent burning. Each time that you check your seeds, look for the perfect golden brown hue in the shell of the seed. Once the golden brown color is achieved, remove your seeds from the oven and allow them to cool. Once your seeds are cooled off, you are almost ready to munch! Just lay the seeds on a decorative plate and enjoy your Jack-o-lantern masterpiece visually, as well as orally.

Carving pumpkins is such an amazing tradition that we should cherish and share with the generations to come. Everybody can enjoy this wonderful and relatively simple process each and every year. There is no better sight then walking down the street and seeing all the houses lined with decorations and the classic jack-o’-lanterns. This fun and festive activity is a great way to spend time with young children while they learn to express themselves and their artistic abilities. The joy and sense of accomplishment can be seen on a child’s face when they view their bright pumpkin and munch on their yummy seeds. Is truly an amazing and scrumptious activity that only takes a few steps, but the memories you make is priceless.