I got oodles of pumpkins this year. Which works the best? Freezing or canning? How is the best way to do them, peel them or what. I have never had pumpkins before so I am not sure the best way to put them up. Thanks so much!!

-- Denise Priest (Okie_Doky@hotmail.com), September 15, 2000

Answers

Our pumpkins were just plain bad. I cut the pumpkins in chunks, clean out the seeds and bake til soft. Take of peeling and freeze. It's safer to freeze pumpkin processed this way than to can it. I also peel and dice up fresh pumpkin and can it in water in the pressure canner to use in soup. Enjoy!

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), September 15, 2000.

If you have extra pumpkins you are not going to harvest, do you know of someone raising a family hog? They might pick them up for free. Normally they are left some place out of the weather and allowed to age. When they look a bit like a shriveled up basketball they are fed to the hog/hogs a bit at a time. They will enjoy the skin, pulp and seeds and, I'm told, they get a slight buzz on.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 15, 2000.

Stored correctly, they last a long time just as they are. Our chickens like ours; come January, they like all that vitimin A. JUst busted them open and threw them in the pen...you'da thought we had declared "party time!"

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), September 15, 2000.

Why bother freezing or canning? Leave a nice stem when harvesting, leave outside for a couple of weeks to cure unless they temperature is freezing, then place in a 70 degree room for a few days. Store at 50 -60 degrees. Do not have them touching anything. Examine for mold every so often, it there is mold, wipe the surface of the pumpkin with a cloth and vegetable oil. They will keep thru the winter this way and any left is great animal feed.

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), September 15, 2000.