What is round, orange, grows on the ground, and only shows up in October?
What is found smashed on door steps, scattered in livestock yards, or falling out of garbage bags the animals broke into, as it waits for the garbage truck at the curb?
If your answer was “pumpkins”, you’d be right. The second description above is literally a crying shame because of how nutritionally important this squash is, particularly now as we have to deal with medical threats from our governments, research labs, medical communities, and mainstream media.
I’ve never understood why so many use this food in such a wasteful way every fall, but the horrendously wasteful activities are tradition for many, and completely fly under the radar for those who otherwise get up in arms over food waste the rest of the year. I actually had one person try to tell me that the pumpkins that get wasted, aren’t good for food. ??????? I shook my head at them! They most definitely ARE good for food, and I wrote a tiny ebook sharing a very healthy version of pumpkin pie using those supposedly useless pumpkins! If I sound a little ticked, I am. So many “issues” in modern society are nothing but virtue signalling and those pumping for change turn blind eyes to habits and traditions that go against the very thing they claim to be trying to eliminate.
In our house, my grown kids can’t remember the last time we carved a pumpkin together, because we haven’t. At least, not in the traditional sense of the word. They DO remember cutting up pumpkins to boil on the stove, peeling off the skins, and roasting the pumpkin seeds while the pumpkin flesh was turned into puree for baking, soups, etc. I just recently learned you can dry pumpkin and crush it into a “flour” that can also be used in baking, soups, sauces, etc. I plan to learn how to do that this fall!
In the interest of rescuing this massive vegetable from yet more landfills, allow me to share with you the amazing health benefits of this big, yellow-orange hollow ball of goodness!
Pumpkins, from their leaves to their flesh to their seeds, have amazing nutritional/medicinal qualities.
Interferon Y is found in the seed and very useful in combating COVID-19.
The seed is high in sulfur, (the flesh is low in sulfur) contains phosphorus, iron, zinc, beta-carotene, omega-3 and omega 6.
Pumpkin benefits the heart, spleen, skin, and eyes. It is useful for asthmatics, arthritis, alzheimers, and has apparently been used to treat migraines, address blood pressure issues, Diabetes and MS. It is a liver tonic, an immune booster, and is an anti-coagulant and anti-parasitic.
Those last four are very useful in dealing with both covid and the related “vaxx”.
Pumpkin is quite versatile in the kitchen.
Pumpkin soup is nice. Pumpkin bread can be made by substituting pumpkin for bananas in your favourite banana loaf recipe. If your pumpkin puree is thin enough, you can replace the water in your regular bread recipe (bread machine recipes included) to make pumpkin bread. You can put the puree into your pancake recipe replacing up to half the moisture content with the puree. These are favourite ways to use pumpkin in our house.
If you prefer not to eat red meat and are finding yourself both iron and zinc deficient as a result, adding pumpkin to your daily or weekly food choices may be of benefit. If you can get your hands on the leaves, drying and crushing them into loose leaf tea is another way to get all these benefits as well. A wash made from the leaves has been known to treat skin conditions such as ezcema.
This year, rather than wasting this very affordable food source, try cutting into large cubes, boiling, draining, skinning, then pureeing to put into containers in your freezer, or to can. My freezer is full this year, so I am going to experiment with the drying and crushing method, and if that works, I’ll be able to put aside as many as the household will let me buy, so that I have it for daily use this coming year.
I look forward to seeing what I can expand the uses for as a “flour”. Time to go dig out the food processor’s slicing blade. . . or maybe my hand slicer will work better, because it’s thinner… hmmm. . . *goes off with visions of pumpkins dancing in her head”. . .
