PLANNING TO CARVE yourself a US-style jack-o’-lantern pumpkin this Halloween?
While it may have its roots in Ireland (we used turnips, and some of the results were terrifying) the pumpkin-based tradition really took off in the US from the start of the last century.
Hundreds of thousands of the things are sold in Irish supermarkets each October: 85,000 Irish-grown pumpkins went on sale in Supervalu in 2013, for instance, when the country enjoyed a bumper harvest.
And though the ones sold on a mass scale are built for carving, not particularly for eating, one cucurbitaceae expert reckons we shouldn’t overlook the humble pumpkin as a food option.
The cucurbitaceae family
What was that word again, you ask?
As head kitchen gardener chef at Dundrum’s Airfield Estate Kitty Scully explains, it’s the catch-all term for the gourd family.
“They’re a massive family. There’s so many: squashes, pumpkins, summer squashes. Courgettes are part of the same family, so there are so many you can grow that have better eating qualities.”
“I think it’s actually sacrilege to carve pumpkins and throw out the flesh.
“When we all talk about world hunger and how we’re going to feed the world… It’s a food crop and it’s just being carved and thrown away.”
Taste versus carving
So is there much you can do with your standard supermarket offering?
As Kitty concedes, it might not be the best option if you’re planning to rustle up an eight-course tasting menu:
“A lot of the pumpkins that we associate with the Americanised jack-o’-lantern, they’re not good for taste. Sure, they wouldn’t particularly be the best ones to eat.
“Nutritionally they don’t rate. They don’t have a high nutrition content – but as a flavour the butternut squashes and some of the really good smaller pumpkins and squashes taste great.”
At a push, the jack-o’-lantern type pumpkins are quite edible, she says.
But if you’re looking for a tastier option?
“You have to judge a pumpkin by its weight. If you pick up one of those pumpkins in the supermarket they might be really big but they’re actually quite light.
“But then if you pick up another squash like a Crown Prince which is steely grey and looks nothing like you’d see in a supermarket, they’re really heavy so there’s more of a dense flesh… They’re the ones for eating.”
Some traditional-looking pumpkins tick both boxes – like the one Kitty’s holding in the photo at the top of this article: the Rouge vif D’Etampes or Cinderella Pumpkin.
“They’re known to store and taste good too.”
The Cinderella pumpkinSource: Shutterstock/ Julia FikseBut what if you've already bought a jack-o'-lantern one in the shops, and want to try a recipe or two?
The flesh will be "pretty tasteless" Kitty reckons "but it's a good vehicle for other flavours. Look - a pumpkin pie, what is it? It's a vehicle for cinnamon and sugars."
And if you want to try some pumpkin based-recipes? Well, unless someone's printed out this article for you, the internet's your oyster. (We liked the look of this cheesecake one from the BBC though. Give it a go... if you can bear to wait the two-and-half-hour prep time before you carve yourself a slice).
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