Canned Pumpkin Shortage? Simple Steps to Make Fresh Pumpkin Puree

About a month ago, I noticed my local store had no small cans of pumpkin. A week later, still none. Then Larry showed me a newspaper article about the super scary national canned pumpkin shortage. Another week later, friend Marlene circulated an email about it but by then, I had three ?sugar pumpkins? to make my own supply.

Ya gotta luv the internet. My pumpkins came with a website. And the website had a link to a tutorial video. Which is how I discovered I?ve been making pumpkin puree the hard way all these years. What to make with it? Try Light Pumpkin Custard for starters.

Here is the easy way. My three punkins made 9 cups of puree.

Rinse off the pumpkins, plop them on a baking sheet, roast at 350 degrees F. for 90 minutes or until tender.
Let cool for a while.
Slice in half, scoop out seeds and pulp (seed making post upcoming).
Peel off the rind. It?s like working with a large, super ripe avocado, so using my fingers helped not lose chunks of rind in the mash.
Put the meat onto a cookie sheet and mash with potato masher.
Scoop into freezer bags in one-cup portions.  Store up to six months in the freezer.





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