Whether you've decorated small ornamental pumpkins or carved giant jack-o'-lanterns for your front door, you're probably faced with a dilemma the day after Halloween: What do you do with all the leftover pumpkins without wasting them? Fortunately, you can use the Halloween pumpkin and do a lot with it. Are you also wondering how you can reuse the decorations after the spooky festival? Here are 6 great ideas to get you started.
1. Eat the leftover Halloween pumpkin
There are a whole range of recipes with pumpkin that can wonderfully enrich your autumn kitchen. Before you decide on a delicious recipe, we would like to address two food safety points:
First:Only use uncut pumpkins for eating. As soon as you cut a pumpkin, even if you just make a superficial score or insert a toothpick to attach a decoration, the two-hour food safety clock starts ticking, after which the pumpkin is no longer edible. Additionally, most carved pumpkins are used for decoration outside, where they can become covered in dirt and bugs, so after Halloween, you should save these pumpkins for purposes other than consumption.
Second:Uncut pumpkins can be eaten, but be careful what you use when painting on them. Instead of using permanent markers or paint, look for edible markers sold at bakery and craft stores. If you have already painted an uncut pumpkin with non-edible items, wash the outside of the pumpkin and trim away the painted or dyed areas before preparing it for eating.
If you follow food safety rules, you canUse Halloween pumpkinsand prepare delicious recipes with it. In autumn, pumpkin soup is a classic for cold dayswith a risottoor a delicious casserole to impress your guests. If you prefer something sweet, you can opt for a delicious pumpkin cake instead or bake some healthy cookies with pumpkin and aromatic autumn spices. The selection of recipes is really large.
2. Make beauty products with pumpkin
Oatmeal isn't the only food you can use for a face mask. Pumpkin puree, honey and milk together create a soothing and vitamin-rich facial care product. To do this, mix 2 teaspoons of pumpkin puree with 1 teaspoon of Manuka honey and 1 teaspoon of milk or yogurt. Leave the mask on the face for 20 minutes and then rinse well. Note: The mask will be bright orange.
Please note:Any pumpkin you use on your skin or for eating should be one of the fresh pumpkins that you have not cut open or carved.
3. Use Halloween pumpkins and make a bird feeder
If you have a small pumpkin that isn't too heavy, you canturn into a bird feeder. Simply cut it in half horizontally, empty the inside and fill it with bird seed. Either leave the pumpkin as is on a garden table or hang it from a tree by wrapping several thick strings or ropes under the base.
You can do thatPumpkin seeds from Halloween pumpkinuse them and also add them to your normal bird food. Rinse and dry the kernels before mixing them in. Do not season or salt them, the birds will eat them as is.
4. Make your own planter for the garden
Pumpkins decompose over time. So if you want to do something with the pumpkin that doesn't end up in the trash, make a degradable planter for the garden. First, fill the tray with potting soil and add flowers or any other plant you like. When the pumpkin begins to decompose, plant the whole thing in the soil where the pumpkin will serve as fertilizer.
5. Donate Halloween pumpkin to a local zoo
Have you cooked, pureed and crafted as much as you can and yet there are still more pumpkins in your kitchen? Then brush them and call your local zoo or animal shelter. Many animals like pumpkins and are happy every November when the farms bring over their leftover pumpkins. There is no guarantee the zoo will accept your pumpkins, but call them and find out.
6. Compost leftover pumpkin
Do you have an old, carved pumpkin that you can no longer use? Do you have a rotten pumpkin bird feeder or leftovers from cooking? Composting is the solution.
It's easy to chop up and compost your Halloween pumpkin. Simply add it to the compost heap orinto the compost bin. You can combine the shredded pumpkin with other organic waste such as food scraps and leaves to create nutrient-rich compost for your garden plants.
