Pumpkin Waste Reaches Scary Heights!
With 20 Million pumpkins expected to end up in landfill in UK alone this year, we wanted to offer some suggestions of alternative uses for your Halloween pumpkins!
We’ve grown our own crop of pumpkins at the Quorum Allotment this year, and here are our top tips with how to reduce that frightful waste!
1) Pumpkin Soup! There are tons of pumpkin soup recipes out there, but our favourite comes from our Sustainabilty & Community Directors mum, Carol!
Carol’s secret ingredient? Using a Thai Green curry paste in the onion base!
Mix one glove of garlic, a white onion and a thai green curry paste in a pan then soften Pumpkin in a pan before bringing to a boil with veg stock. We added carrot and Butternut Squash to improve flavour, then made it creamy with coconut milk but stock will definitely suffice.
Once softened after simmering for about 40 mins, we blitzed up in a pan and enjoyed DELCIOUS home made soup. Enjoy!
Click the video below to see how we go on!
2) Make a wildlife friendly feeder! Lots of local wildlife loves Pumpkin as a tasty treat. Wildlife can eat the pumpkin flesh and seeds so a good waste free option.
However, pumpkin can make hedgehogs sick - so keep them safe by popping them in a tree or raised out of reach of ground dwelling hedgehogs.
3) Save them Seeds! Pumpkin seeds are delicious toasted but why not consider saving the seeds to plant out pumpkins next year? Clean up any pumpkin flesh and store in a cool dry place until next year. You can then grow seedlings indoors next April or May - then plant out in June once risk of frost has passed.
Be sure to leave plenty room - pumpkins are mega growers! With enough space, sunshine and water you’ll be rewarded with a crop of pumpkins next year.
Short on space? We’re happy to let you loan out some personal plot space at Quorum Allotment, email hub@quorumpark.com for more info.
We run a Quorum Seed Swap and are happy to take donations of seeds!
Could your pumpkin seeds be the start of next year’s pumpkin crop?