How to make homemade pumpkin puree

Last week I decided that I was feeling adventurous I guess you could say. I decided it was time for us to eat our porch decoration. Random I know! 🙂

Last week I decided I was not paying the exorbitant price for a can of pumpkin and decided to make my own using our front porch decoration.  It really wasn’t that difficult at all and I now have about 15 bags of pumpkin puree in my freezer all ready for muffins, bread, pies, baby food, and anything else I come up with in the next month or so.  It does take a couple of hours from start to finish but is definitely worth it. 

Rinse and dry your pumpkin.

Remove the top portion by using a very sharp knife. It's easier to remove if you don't pull the top off like I did. 🙂

Remove the stem/top portion and discard. Keep the pumpkin seeds if you plan on roasting and eating them later.

Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out all of the gunk (saving seeds if desired).

Place half of pumpkin inside side down. Add about 1 cup of water to the pan. Since my pumpkin was very large I used a disposable turkey pan.

Remove the outer skin on the pumpkin. Allow pumpkin to cool for a while. Cut the pumpkin into pieces and either place in a food processor/blender or I placed them all in a very large pot and used an immersion blender to puree.

Elijah enjoying homemade pumpkin puree for the first time

Yummy! He likes pumpkin a lot. Especially mixed with a little homemade applesauce Mamaw made. 🙂

Notes: I paid only 2.49 for my pumpkin about a month ago.  Although it was a little bit of work I estimate that we saved about $20 by making our own pumpkin puree.  We have really enjoyed having it serve as a fun fall decoration on our porch and now we are enjoying it now in a variety of dishes.  So far we have made: pumpkin waffles, muffins, bread, polenta, and a pumpkin pie latte.

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