What can you do with leftover Halloween pumpkins? Don’t let them go to waste!

Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without the humble pumpkin but each year more than 30million are bought for carving and just over half of those go to waste.

That’s around £26million worth of food, so Recycle Devon has come up with a guide to how you can make the most of these tasty, versatile, cheap, nutritious and delicious fruit.

Yes, pumpkins are technically fruit but most of us would consider them as vegetables and they can be used in a variety of ways in a range of recipes.

While the majority of people (three in five) know you can eat your carving pumpkin, only one in nine actually do, according to a survey by Hubbub.

Recycle Devon is keen to point out the carving pumpkins you see in local shops and supermarkets are perfectly edible.

Above: Pumpkin carving is great fun but none of the big orange fruit needs to go to waste! Credit: Bondarillia/Adobe Stock

Typically, they have been bred to be large, thin fleshed and robust. They tend to be more watery and fibrous than other types, so the carvings are best suited for bulking out soups and stews, with a flavoursome stock cube.

You can eat all of the pumpkin - except for its stalk! Whether you can eat the skin or not depends on the variety. Smaller varieties such as onion squash have deliciously edible skin, the skin of larger varieties may be too tough to eat or less than appealing.

Above: Save the seeds, flesh and guts of your pumpkin carving for a variety of uses! Credit: Knelson20/Adobe Stock

Councillor Ruth Williams, chair of the Devon Authorities Strategic Waste Committee, said: “Carving pumpkins for decoration has become a very popular part of Halloween, but we’ve forgotten their true purpose – dinner!

“If you’re buying a pumpkin to carve this year, remember to use the innards to create nutritious and tasty meals and snacks.”

Disembowelling your pumpkin

The flesh is perfect for soups and curries. The flesh of smaller pumpkins, squash and gourds is best suited for pies, breads and cakes - although it’s also delicious in a soup.

Smaller pumpkins tend to be more flavoursome, less fibrous and less watery. There’s no reason not to carve a range of squash and gourds.

Scooping the guts out

Yes, you can use that stringy slimy stuff in the middle of the pumpkin: put it in a pan with plenty of water and boil it to make a thin broth. Strain the broth, then mix it with apple or orange juice and mulling spices for an aromatic autumnal warmer.

You can also use pumpkin broth as a base for soups. Just add carrot, celery and other vegetable trimmings.

Secrets of pumpkin seeds

Don’t throw away the seeds. They are not only tasty with soups and salads and a convenient snack, they are also a wonderfully nutritious food that's very rich in zinc.

They contain plant compounds known as phytosterols and free-radical scavenging antioxidants, which can give your health an added boost. Simmer them in salted water for 10 minutes and then bake in a hot oven until brown.

You can follow Recycle Devon on Facebook, X and Instagram over the Halloween period for tips and ideas on how to #EatYourPumpkin, including how to decorate your pumpkin instead of carving it and recipes for using the scooped out pumpkin innards, flesh and seeds.

If you have a food waste collection, don’t forget to put your pumpkin remnants in your food waste container once Halloween is over. Or chop your pumpkin up some more and put it in your home compost bin.

READ NEXT: Free Halloween costume swaps at your local Devon libraries this October

Please do not dump pumpkins in woodland or other wildlife areas – they can be fatal to hedgehogs and other small animals, plus they take a long time to rot and can damage delicate eco-systems. Far better to eat them yourself or recycle via compost or food waste collection.

For more information about reducing, reusing and recycling in Devon, visit https://www.recycledevon.org