Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi to anyone who remembers me. Still in Finland, still have an allotment.

I harvested my pumpkins and put them to cure and then forgot about them. They're now frozen, but undamaged. Can I thaw them and use them or are they goners?

Hi Malk
Not quite the same process but we have frozen butternut squash successfully in our freezer and then used it in soups and casseroles and it was fine.

I suggest you experiment with keeping them fully frozen if you have somewhere clean and safe when you can fully preserve and store them but experiment with a small one using it for soup or in chunks in a casserole or stew. Perhaps in winter Finland with consistent low temperatures you have plces where this can happen?

I think though if they start to thaw you,ll have to cook and use them straight away. Please come back and report how you get on as I suspect this is a new learning experience for all of us. Of course once ripened, they will strore for literally months in cool dry conditions.

Thanks Primrose. It is an experiment. I brought one in and cut it in half. Pretty much frozen through, but you can see the frost damage. I usually puree them for quick breads so I think they'll be ok for that, but not sure about stews. Scooping out the seeds was like some strange sorbet.

How do you use them for breads Malk? I'm intrigued.

Hi Malk! Welcome back!

The freezing will collapse the cells in the flesh but shouldn't affect the taste but you will have puree rather than chunks. There is an awful lot of things you can make with puree though, American Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Scones, Pumpkin Pasta Sauce along with your breads, to name a few. Sacrifice one to test, but keep the others frozen until needed. If you look on Pinterest there are loads of recipes using puree from around the world. Fingers crossed all won't be lost.