Every October, front porches around the country are graced with the gorgeous hard squashes to herald the fall harvest, giving thanks for plenty, and the beloved Halloweentime. Ranging in color and size, the ubiquitous pumpkin presides over all things fall in the U.S. But what happens to those pumpkins after being carved or when the season ends?
Unfortunately, most of them end up getting thrown away. In fact, a whopping 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins get sent to U.S. landfills every year. That’s 1.3 billion pounds that could be feeding people and animals or being composted and turned into fertile soil. However, it doesn’t have to be this way: pumpkins have many uses! Here are a few ways to use your fall pumpkins instead of trashing them.
Make Soup
Pumpkins are in the squash family and are quite edible! Check out
this recipe for pumpkin soup – it’s even served in a pumpkin! Sure to be a hit at parties.
Make Pie
Small, round pie pumpkins are best for this as they are the sweetest, but other gourds can be used too! Check out
this recipe for pumpkin pie made from a pumpkin.
Make Cooked Pumpkin
One of the easiest ways to use pumpkins is to bake them in the oven and then can or freeze them to use throughout the year.
Here’s how to cook the pumpkins (recipe says small is best, but any size works) and
here’s how to can freshly cooked pumpkin.
Roast the Seeds
Pumpkin seeds are delicious roasted with a little salt & pepper – don’t let them go to waste!
Here’s how to do it.
Make Roast Pumpkin Slices
Pumpkin, like all squash, is delicious sliced and roasted.
Here’s a great video on how to make roasted pumpkin.
Compost ’em
If you don’t want to use your pumpkins for food or you just have too many to cook, compost them instead! Compost Carpool offers pumpkin pickup and drop off in North Texas.
Here’s how it works:
We offer pumpkin drop off at our Farmers Market locations: the Coppell, Carrollton, and Flower Mound Farmers Markets. Click here to view our calendar and see when and where those markets take place. Just drop by and we’ll be ready to collect your pumpkins!
Don’t want to make the drive? We’ll come to you! We offer doorstep pumpkin pickup in our service area.**
Cost:
We charge for pumpkin composting based on number and size of the pumpkins plus a pickup fee for doorstep pickup. Sign up for doorstep pumpkin pickup here.
Small $.50
Doorstep Pickup fee: 1-5 pumpkins: $15, 6 or more pumpkins: $25
**Our service area: Flower Mound, Lewisville, Highland Village, Coppell, Colleyville, Grapevine, Midcities, Southlake, Irving
Remember that we don’t need to waste pumpkins! There are so many wonderful things to do with them. Whether you cook or compost those lovely gourds, you’re making a big difference in diverting waste from the country’s landfills!
