All were invited to join us at our Pumpkin Party on Sat 2nd November and it was a wonderful afternoon of delicious pumpkin food, pumpkin crafts and pumpkin games. Plus circus skills from SkyHigh Arts, a magic show and some wonderful live music from Bailey Tomkinson & the Hokum Boys!
As dusk settled in, the orchard transformed into a magical scene, with festoon lights illuminating the trees and glowing pumpkins casting an enchanting glow.
There were loads of delicious pumpkin inspired dishes, including spicy pumpkin bhajis, pumpkin curry, pumpkin hummus, pumpkin pie, and spicy pumpkin cake. Tretho Lounge also cooked up a big pumpkin soup from a Splattenridden donated pumpkin. This event is all about inspiring people to look at pumpkins not as just a Halloween decoration but also as a wonderful and very affordable vegetable to be used in many different recipes. They say that over 15 million pumpkins go to waste over Halloween, carved but not eaten and that’s not even counting the ones that get left on the fields unpicked. Many people still don’t know carving pumpkins are edible. It really is a wonderful vegetable that should eaten more than they are, and can last up to 6 months if they are stored in a well-ventilated position at a temperature under 15°C.
A team of volunteers prepared an impressive variety of pumpkin-inspired dishes the day before the event. Volunteers peeled, chopped, roasted and pureed around five large pumpkins to create an array of delicious dishes, including spicy pumpkin bhajis, pumpkin curry, pumpkin hummus, pumpkin pie, and spicy pumpkin cake. Tretho Lounge also cooked up a big pumpkin soup. So there was plenty of food to serve up at the Pumpkin party. Big thanks to Splattenridden for allowing us to collect all the pumpkins from their patch after Halloween.
Thank you to CCF – Cornwall Community Foundation for the funding.
Recipies for all the pumpkin dishes can be found below.
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Pumpkin Recipies
Here are the recipes:
Pumpkin Hummus
250g pumpkin roasted in oil and paprika till soft
2 cans chic peas (strained)
2 heaped tablespoons tahini paste
2 lemons juiced
4 garlic cloves
Blend all until smooth
Generously season with salt pepper, and more lemon juice to taste
Sprinkle with paprika on the top
Creamy Pumpkin Pasta
Two large onions
2 teaspoons of paprika
1 teaspoon all purpose seasoning
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
One medium size pumpkin
2 L of vegetable stock
1 L of double cream
Pasta & grated cheese – as much or little as you like
Soften the onions and garlic in oil, once soft, chop up the pumpkin and add it to the pan covered in vegetable stock.
Pop lid on and boil till soft, add the double cream boil for another couple of minutes, and blend.
Add pasta and cheese
Pumpkin curry:
Ginger, Garlic,
Soy
Curry powder
Coconut milk
Tinned tomatoes
Onions
Pumpkin
Any other veg you like
Roast pumpkin in oven. Cook off onions in oil.
Add ginger garlic curry powder and cook for 2 more minutes
Ad coconut milk, tomatoes, soy
Then add all the veg after roasting in the oven and the sauce is cooked down a bit. Add salt to taste.
Watch Vikki show us how to make Pumpkin Bhaji burgers.
Video made in 2021 shortly after our first pumpkin party in 2020.
Pumpkin Bhaji Burgers Recipe
INGREDIENTS
• 200g Pumpkin- Grated (or any combination of hard vegetables)
• 250g Onion Finely Sliced
• 2 Green Chillies – Finely Sliced
• 1 Juicy Clove of Garlic – Grated
• 2 cm Ginger – Grated
• 1 tsp Ground Coriander
• ¼ tsp Ground Cumin
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• ½ tsp Ground Chilli Powder
• 1 tsp Ground Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 Handful of Fresh Coriander – Chopped
• 100g of Gram Flour
• 2 tbsp of Ground Rice Flour
• Mango Chutney
• Greek Yogurt
• Ground Paprika
• Pinch of Salt
• Lettuce
• Tomato – Sliced
• Burger Buns
• Oil For Frying
Spiced Pumpkin Gingerbread
(from 5 O’clock Apron, Claire Thomson)
Ingredients
300g pureed roast pumpkin or squash (roasted weight)
50g black treacle
70g dates, coarsely chopped
140g light soft brown sugar
100g butter (melted)
225g self raising flower
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tblsp ground ginger (or more or less to taste)
2 tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
Oven: 180deg fan
Grease and line a 20 x 8cm square cake tin
In a bowl, mix/whisk flour, bicarb, ginger, mixed spice; leave to one side
Wrap pieces of pumpkin/squash in foil; roast for 30 – 45min until tender. Cool, then mash or blitz
While roasting, soak dates in 70ml boiling water for 10min, then blend with black treacle and roasted
pumpkin puree until smooth
In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs + sugar until pale, thick and frothy
Slowly pour in melted butter while continuing to whisk into a homogenous mixture
Then add pumpkin+date+treacle mixture
Then fold in the dry ingredient mix (flour etc) until well mixed into a smooth batter (can add milk if
necessary)
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 35 – 40 mins until skewer test comes out clean
Once baked, cool in tin, then then on rack.
Cake keeps 3-4 days. Wrap in grease-proof paper to keep moist.
Pumpkin soup
INGREDIENTS
* Vegetable Broth
* 5 onion dice
* 6 Garlic clove chopped
* 4 spring onions chopped
* Olive oil
* 1 large pumpkin
* Salt + Pepper, to taste
* Fresh chive Leaves, for garnish (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
* In large pan combine olive oil and pumpkin with salt and pepper
* Roast in oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes
* Then transfer to soup pot and saute for 15 minutes
* Then add vegetables broth and boiled for additional 40 minutes and remove scum from top of soup, then reduce to a good consistency
* Serve in soup bowls with a chive leaf garnish (optional). Or a sprinkle of cinnamon (optional).
* Enjoy!
This event is co-hosted by St Ives Community Orchard & Nature Reserve
All left over pumpkins will be shared out at our daily foodshare collections.
More info on https://hubbub.org.uk/eat-your-pumpkin #EatYourPumpkin
See photos from last year’s event.
This event was funded by CCF – Cornwall Community Foundation.
