Pumpkin for Halloween?!
Pumpkin for Halloween?
Does anyone know if there is a way to make my halloween pumpkin last longer? They always go all floppy and fury in the middle and I wondered if there was anything I can do to stop this from happening so soon?
Answers:
To make my cut pumpkins last a little longer, I rinse them with white vinegar after I clean them out and cut them. Then I rub a light coat of vaseline or shortening on the cuts and inside, while wearing a disposable glove. During the day, I put them in a cooler, with a bit of ice to keep cool. I have had good luck with this keeping the jack-o-lanterns for just over a week. I also discovered last year, that if you don't actually cut the things but scrape away the skin and scrape out the insides to make the walls thinner, and then treat them like above, they lasted longer as well. The ones I scraped hung around almost 2 weeks. Our outside weather was really on the cool side, only getting into the upper 60's during the day, and dipping down into the 30's at night- and that may have played a big part in it as well. The big thing is to make sure you kill as many of the bacteria and spores on it that you can, and then seal the flesh so it doesn't lose as much water. I check mine every day and if I notice a bit of fur, I immediately bring it inside, wash it, treat with the vinegar and then recoat it. If you let the mold take hold, it's a lost cause.
Normally I only cut a few ahead of time, because I like to cook my lanterns the next day for soup. Unless you use a pie pumpkin, they aren't good for much else but animal food. My grandparents used to grow "cow pumpkins" for feeding the livestock during the winter, and that's the kind still grown for jack-o-lanterns. They are pretty watery and lack much flavor. The littlest ones are good roasted the day after, but don't wait too long if you want to eat them. I would never recommend eating the ones that were cut more than a day before.
Mind that no matter what you do, some pumpkins just won't hang in there. I can't tell you any way to predict which will and which won't- but if you make sure they aren't dented and bruised when you buy them, that does make a difference. And watch that the bugs don't accumulate inside, if you are lighting them up at night. They make excellent bug and slug traps, I discovered- and critters will ruin them quickly.
Source(s):
Experience
I have heard, but not tried, the following couple: Stick it in the freezer during the day, which makes sense but I'd be worried about it thawing too fast; and put vaseline on the "cut" parts--anything that's not the outer skin. Which certainly couldn't hurt to try.
Don't carve them until a few days before Halloween.
personally i like painting my faces on the pumpkins because of the way they rot so fast....this way they last for a really long time.
But if you really want the fun of carving one, i think the only way is to wait till closer to halloween to carve it or to buy multible pumpkins and to keep carving as they rot and set the new one out and throw the old one away.
I agree with Katz, Wait till a few days before. Cutting to early starts a dring out prosses like if you cut an apple and set it out it starts to turn color and dry up. Then you have old looking pumpkins. Good luck
i don't know sorry