h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just been offered a pumpkin, quite a rare item in my country, and I was wondering what best use I could make of it...

Cooking, or decoration for the coming week-end, or both ?
It is quite large (over a foot accross), nice round shape.

Any idea ?

Also : how long would it keep if I just leave it there on the coffee table ? Any chance it just dries off and stay as it is for a whole year ?

both sounds good. hollow it out and use the insides for cooking. then use the shell to make a decoration of some sort.

Pumpkin seeds are very nutritious and tasty:
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/foods_view/1,1523,176,00.html

The toasted seeds can be added to sweet or savory dishes, or just salted and eaten as a snack.

A carved pumpkin will spoil pretty quickly if you keep it indoors. It will do much better outside if the weather is cool (temps in the 40s F or around 5 or 6 C) and you keep it out of the sun. This web site has more ideas about using and preserving punpkins:

http://www.molliekatzen.com/superfoods/pumpkins.php

In our local paper they have a story advertising a shortage of pumpkins.



"Oh no - I must rush to my local greengrocers and buy 2."

We need a 'shakes head and weeps' smiley.

Carve it, but not the typical jack-o-lantern. Every year we use several different designs on ours from haunted houses to skulls to witches. We get the patterns from pumpkin masters, they are so much fun, and it will make you the talk of the neighborhood!!
~Psycho

SMASH IT!!!
SMASH IT NOW!!!!
...sorry.. the longest I've been able to keep a pumpkin is almost a year. and the weird thing about it is that it looked brand new, and one day it just turned into a big stinking pile of rot.