Halloween Pumpkins
30th Oct 2023
It is spooky season and everywhere you look there are Jack ‘O’ Lanterns adorning doorsteps and windows ready for Halloween. In the UK alone, we buy around 24 million pumpkins just for Halloween and more than half of us will simply throw them away afterwards. A whopping 18,000 tonnes end up in landfill every year, causing greenhouse gas emissions.
So here are some ideas for what to do with your pumpkin that are kinder to the planet.
- Keep the pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are delicious roasted and are a great source of fibre, iron and calcium whilst being low in carbs, high in protein. Why not spice them up and sprinkle your favourite seasoning on them before roasting. You can also make them sweet, dust a little cinnamon and sugar over warmed seeds. Yum!
BBC Good Food recommends the following:
- Boil some salted water in a large saucepan, add the cleaned seeds and boil for 5-10 minutes depending on the size, then drain on a kitchen towel.
- Toss the drained seeds with a little oil, some seasoning and spread evenly across a large baking sheet
- Roast the seeds at 180C/gas 4 for about 8-10 minutes.
You can also dry pumpkin seeds out and plant them again next year to see if you can grow your own pumpkin! Or why not hand in your seeds to the Seed Library at Thornliebank library for others to take away.
Add them to your compost. Cut your pumpkin into smaller pieces and add to a compost pile. The pumpkin will break down nicely and add valuable nutrients to the compost. If you do not have a compost pile, bring your pumpkin pieces along to Thornliebank library garden and we will add to our composter and use in the garden.
Bury it. If you have a garden, bury your pumpkin and let bugs enjoy feasting on it. In the same way as composting, the pumpkin will break down and add nutrients back in to the soil.
Make a delicious pumpkin soup. Why not borrow a recipe book from the library and have a go at making a yummy soup. You can also search through the many food magazines available, free, with your library card at Pressreader: Find out more here: https://www.ercultureandleisure.org/libraries/books-e-books-and-e-magazines/emagazines-2/
