Halloween is this Saturday, and the pumpkins are piled up by the grocery store doors.
Most of those big ones were grown to be carved, not cooked. If you're hoping to get a pie out of yours too, it helps to know that before the knife goes in.
Below: which pumpkin to carve and which to cook, how to roast the seeds, the sheet pan we'd roast them on, the test that catches tired baking powder, why bread goes stale faster in the fridge, and how to rescue rock-hard brown sugar.
Reply and tell us: do the pumpkin seeds get roasted at your house, or tossed? We read every one.
Which Pumpkin to Carve, and Which to Cook
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This is the week the pumpkins come home, and most of them are the wrong kind for the oven. The big carving pumpkins have thin walls and not much flesh, per NC State Extension.
Carving pumpkins and cooking pumpkins are the same species. Growers just pick different varieties for each job.
The cooking kind is sold as a pie pumpkin or sugar pumpkin. NC State says to look for a small one, about 4 to 8 pounds, with thicker walls, dense flesh and more sugar. The flesh is sweeter and less stringy, too.
At the store, pick one that feels heavy for its size, since NC State says the cooking types are denser. Want one pumpkin for both jobs? It names Connecticut Field, Spirit and Winter Luxury as varieties that carve and cook.
Can you cook a jack-o'-lantern? It's edible. You just get less flesh, and stringier flesh.
Timing matters more than variety. Texas A&M AgriLife says once you carve a pumpkin and leave the pulp out more than a couple of hours, assume it's not good to eat. If you plan to cook any of it, get it into the fridge right away. A carved pumpkin that's sat on the porch for days is decoration.
The seeds are the easy win, so save them before you carve. Here's the University of Illinois Extension method:
Heat the oven to 350 F.
Pull the seeds off the stringy fibers, and toss any you cut.
Boil them for 10 minutes in 1 quart of water with 2 tablespoons of salt. It's optional, but Illinois says it helps them roast evenly.
Drain and pat them dry.
Toss 2 cups of seeds with 1 tablespoon of oil. Skipped the boil? Add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt here.
Spread them in one layer on a large baking sheet.
Roast 15 to 25 minutes, stirring about every 5, until golden.
Let them cool, then store them airtight.
Bought a pie pumpkin too? Clemson's Home and Garden Information Center says to cut it, scrape out the seeds and pulp, set it flesh side down in a pan with a little water, and bake at 350 F for about 1 1/2 hours, until tender.
Scroll down for the pan we'd roast them on.
Worth a Look
The Plain Sheet Pan That Does Most of the Work
Seeds this weekend, a pie pumpkin after that, and holiday cookies right behind. One good sheet pan handles all of it.
The one we'd point you to is the Nordic Ware Naturals Baker's Half Sheet, at $20.00 at time of writing. It's a plain, rimmed sheet of pure aluminum, and Nordic Ware says it will never rust.
It measures about 18 by 13 inches on the outside, with a 1-inch rim. Galvanized steel sealed inside the rim helps it resist warping, and it's made in the USA of domestic and imported materials. Here's the single half sheet on Amazon.
We haven't baked on this one ourselves. The specs come from Nordic Ware's Amazon listing, and the price is Nordic Ware's list price.
That said, keep it out of the dishwasher. Nordic Ware says it will discolor, which is only cosmetic, and it isn't nonstick. Aluminum also reacts with acidic foods like tomato sauce, so it's not the pan for a tomato-heavy dinner.
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The Test That Catches Tired Baking Powder
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Holiday baking is around the corner, and an old can of baking powder is an easy way to end up with flat biscuits.
Here are the two quick checks from King Arthur Baking:
Baking powder: stir 1/2 teaspoon into 2 tablespoons of warm water. It should bubble and foam.
Baking soda: stir 1/2 teaspoon into 1 tablespoon of vinegar. It should fizz right away, and hard.
Here's the catch with baking powder. America's Test Kitchen ran the bubble test on cans that had been open for up to a year, and every one passed.
In its biscuit tests, though, the rise started dropping at 6 months and fell by half by 10 months. So the fizz tells you the powder isn't dead. It doesn't tell you it's still strong.
Clabber Girl says an unopened can lasts up to 18 months, and an opened one is best used within 6.
The fix costs nothing. Write the date on the lid the day you open a new can, and replace it after 6 months.
Why Bread Goes Stale Faster in the Fridge
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If you keep bread in the fridge to make it last, the fridge is working against you. It's the temperature where bread goes stale fastest.
Here's why. After baking, the starch in bread slowly lines back up into tight crystals, and the crumb firms up. Food scientists call it retrogradation.
A 2011 study in the journal Starch compared bread kept at room temperature, at fridge temperature (about 39 F) and frozen. Retrogradation ran fastest in the fridge. In the freezer, new crystals stopped forming.
TLDR: counter for a day or two, freezer for longer, fridge never.
Here's how King Arthur Baking freezes it:
Let the loaf cool completely.
Slice it, and bundle the slices in groups of 2 or 4.
Wrap it in several airtight layers.
Freeze it for up to 3 months. Gluten-free bread keeps about 1 month.
Toast slices straight from the freezer, or thaw a whole loaf on the counter for about 3 hours.
Slices thaw on the counter in under 30 minutes, which makes Monday's sandwiches easy.
How to Soften Rock-Hard Brown Sugar
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Brown sugar turns into a brick when the moisture in it evaporates, per Domino Sugar. So every fix puts moisture back. Pick yours by how soon you need it:
Right now, in the oven. Heat the oven to 250 F, spread the sugar on an oven-safe pan and watch it until it softens. Measure what you need right away, because it hardens again as it cools.
Right now, in the microwave. Put the sugar in a bowl, cover it with two wet but not dripping paper towels and seal the bowl with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, then break it up with a fork and use it right away.
In 2 days, with bread. Seal the sugar in a container with one or two slices of bread. Take the bread out after about 2 days, once the sugar has softened.
Then keep it soft. Domino says to store brown sugar in a container with a tight lid, or a resealable moisture-proof bag, and never in the fridge. It's best within 6 months of opening.
Live somewhere very dry, or keeping a bag for a long time? Domino says you can freeze it. Thaw it, then break up the clumps with a fork before you bake.
Only microwave the amount you need. Domino warns the sugar will be hot and hardens as it cools.
One quick tap
Which part was most useful today?
That's Thursday: which pumpkin to cook, the seeds to save, the baking powder test, bread for the freezer and soft brown sugar.
If you only do one thing this week, save the seeds before you carve.
Forward this to whoever in your house is carving the pumpkin.
See you tomorrow.
The Home Wire
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