Pumpkin Purée

Although I’ve made pumpkin bread many times before, this was by far the most interesting of them all. Instead of using store-bought pumpkin Purée, we decided to try and make our own from raw pumpkins and I quickly realized how little I actually knew about the work that goes into making something seemingly so simple. Despite the simplistic nature of cooking pumpkin bread, the process of slicing, preparing, roasting, and blending pumpkins just to get one of the ingredients to the overall dish was both fun and challenging.

Pumpkin Bread, Pie, and Seeds

For X Day we took to the kitchen and did something I’d never done before: make pumpkin bread from scratch! I thought making pumpkin puree would be much more complicated than it was, and adding real pumpkin made the end product taste so much better. I have also never tried freshly roasted pumpkin seeds before, but we all found that we couldn’t stop eating them. They tasted just like popcorn!

My favorite part of the day was learning how easy sustainable cooking is. It felt really good to decrease our environmental impact through the little steps we did to ensure we used all parts of our pumpkins.

The Finished Product and Further Thinking

After everything was done we had three unique snacks/treats to try! They were all really good and it was very cool to see the final product after beginning with just a pumpkin. I would be curious to see what other fruits or vegetables could be used in this way!

Preparing and baking!

To start off we worked with the pumpkins to prepare them for all the different dishes. As opposed to when people carve their pumpkins and then just throw them out, we used almost all parts of the pumpkin! We took out the seeds, dried and seasoned them, and then roasted them. Then, we took the outsides of pumpkin and also roasted them until soft. I had never made anything using the whole rind of a pumpkin, so it was really cool to see! We then used it to make a Guatemalan pumpkin filling and pumpkin bread!

Guatemala Pumpkin Pie!!!!??

Today we made a traditional style Guatemalan pumpkin pie, or what my Grandma likes to call “Ayote En Dulce.” I’m not as talented as my grandma, but I attempted to recreate her recipe.

Here’s me cooking Pumpkin slices with Piloncillo and Cinnamon sticks.

Here’s what’s in the actual pot. You gotta trust me, the smell was something to die for. Just ask Jerry.

I also made sure to give the rest of my pumpkin items like the skin and seeds to my friends so they could make other food items out of them. Way to be sustainable am I right.

Enjoying the Finished Products

After the loaves, muffins, and pies had finished baking, we sampled the finished goods. We tried a little bit of everything, ranging from the different shaped breads to a variation of a traditional Guatemalan pumpkin recipe. We reflected on how fulfilling it was to eat these desserts knowing they were made sustainably.

Making Pie Crust

Before making the pie crust in the picture above, we worked with the pumpkins, using every part of them. We roasted the seeds and ate them as a snack, pureed the flesh to use in the pumpkin bread, and composted the skin. Using every part of the pumpkin and leaving no waste taught us to be more sustainable in our everyday lives.

All About Pumpkins!

Upcycling has become increasingly popular as eco-consciousness and sustainability become priorities amongst the masses, but most upcyclers stop at clothes or décor. We thought: what if we upcycle food? Pumpkins are a fall staple as a table arrangement or a spice, but the gourds hold so much potential beneath their orange exterior. We plan to dissect the pumpkins, utilizing all their pieces to make delicious food and fun fall decoration. Pumpkin puree, pumpkin bread, roasted pumpkin seeds, and jack-o-lanterns are all on the agenda for this sustainable, fall-centric X-Day activity. Not only will we learn life skills such as baking and pumpkin carving, but we will learn about the value of sustainable practices and the impact of waste.