The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[Harriet Jones]

Carved pumpkins are usually good for a few days.  Some keep-fresh hints I've seen have been to dip it into bleach water to kill any bacteria  and/or coat the cut edges with petroleum jelly

[magicdomino]

Ok, I've been seeing posts, both here and elsewhere, about pumpkin carving parties, pumpkin carving contests, how "we're going to carve our pumpkin this weekend/soon", etc and so I was wondering.. what are people doing with these carved pumpkins for the 5+ days to keep them nice until Halloween? Or are they not even using it for Halloween at all?

I ask because it would be really handy if dad could carve the pumpkin early and not fret about rot, bugs, whatever/etc.  Do you think if he carved it the night before, it would be alright on it's own for a day inside? (potential cat antics aside.. )

I've had carved pumpkins last a week after Halloween with nothing more than a few ants.  I was expecting them to rot, so of course, they didn't, and no animals nibbled on them.  This year, I'm carving on Sunday.  It will not surprise me if the weather turns hot, and there is an infestation of starving squirrels.   

[guihong]

And maybe the most obvious question of all: Why do we carve pumpkins at Halloween?  (My dad did when I was a kid, but no one in my family likes pumpkin or cares to do it)

[Thipu1]

And maybe the most obvious question of all: Why do we carve pumpkins at Halloween?  (My dad did when I was a kid, but no one in my family likes pumpkin or cares to do it)

As I understand it, the tradition was originally Irish and the vegetable used was a turnip.  The idea was to hollow it out and use it as a lantern.  Frankly, that sounds like too much work for little return. 

Today, pumpkin carving is more of an art form than anything else.  It's also true that the best varieties of pumpkins for cooking aren't the big, round, orange creatures that make the best Jack-O-Lanterns.  Cheese pumpkins are the choice for cooking. These tend to be meatier.  They also tend to be  squat and very light in color.     

Around here, the trend is going toward crook-necked squashes.  These resemble geese and are often
just painted rather than carved.  some of these are art objects in their own right. 

[Slartibartfast]

Don't carve the pumpkin this early if you intend to eat it.  However, if you're not planning to eat it, you can do it now and just coat the cut edges in vaseline - also don't put a candle in it until Halloween (or if you do, make it one of those LED "candles".)

I'm contemplating doing ours today because I don't want to wait any longer to eat pumpkin seeds 

[Onyx_TKD]

Don't carve the pumpkin this early if you intend to eat it.  However, if you're not planning to eat it, you can do it now and just coat the cut edges in vaseline - also don't put a candle in it until Halloween (or if you do, make it one of those LED "candles".)

I'm contemplating doing ours today because I don't want to wait any longer to eat pumpkin seeds 

Depending on what you want to eat from the pumpkin, you may be able to have your pumpkin (early) and eat it too. (Sorry, lame pun, couldn't resist.)

I've never eaten the carved pumpkin that's been sitting out, but I usually can get huge quantities of pumpkin bread just from the pumpkin flesh scraped out before carving. My family has always liked to scrape down the shell of the pumpkin quite thin--not only is it easier to carve, but the candlelight makes the entire shell glow, not just the design. So we remove the stringy "pumpkin guts" and seeds and then started scraping away the pumpkin flesh from the inside of the shell. It comes out all shredded and fluffy, which is perfect for putting into pumpkin bread, and we bag it and stick it in the fridge if we're not ready to bake as soon as we carve the pumpkins.

[Betelnut]

Carved one about three weeks ago--it lasted about 10 days before really getting rotten (getting lit every night).  That just gave us an opportunity to carve another one.

Who cares if the first one rots?  It is fun to carve pumpkins.

[jpcher]

Carved one about three weeks ago--it lasted about 10 days before really getting rotten (getting lit every night).  That just gave us an opportunity to carve another one.

Who cares if the first one rots?  It is fun to carve pumpkins.

This has been my experience as well, carved pumpkins last much longer than just a few days. I usually carve mine a week before halloween and put them outside with the rest of the decorations (guess what I'm doing tomorrow ) and they still look good for halloween. I light candles in them only on halloween day.

Maybe it's regional weather? Around here average temperature in October is 50^oF.

And maybe the most obvious question of all: Why do we carve pumpkins at Halloween?  (My dad did when I was a kid, but no one in my family likes pumpkin or cares to do it)

Because it's a fun, creative project that the whole family can enjoy doing together. It goes hand-in-hand with picking out the costumes and decorating the lawn. Tradition! . . . oh, yeah, and them yummy pumpkin seeds!

Soooooo many fond memories of pumpkin carving when the DDs were younger. Before they could handle the utensils they would draw what they wanted and LDH would do the carving . . . this is the first year in 20+ that I'm carving a pumpkin by myself.

[GreenEyedHawk]

It's cold enough here by the end of October that just leaving the pumpkins outside (instead of taking up a bunch of room in the fridge) does enough to stop them from rotting.

[Tea Drinker]

I went to a friend's pumpkin-carving party a few years ago. She cut off the top, then scooped out the flesh and seeds. Then people carved a face, and others just hung around and socialized while my friend made pumpkin pies and toasted pumpkin seeds as a snack.

The carved pumpkin wound up outside her house; this was in Westchester, N.Y. (just north of New York City), so it was cool out but not refrigerator-cold, and she said it lasted fine as a display until after Halloween.

If you just want pumpkin pie, you can do fine with canned pumpkin; if you're carving the pumpkin anyhow, it's worth making a pie or pumpkin soup or something.

[Curious Cat]

Here are some tips on keeping pumpkins fresher longer

http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/carvedpumpkins.php

[Snooks]

Is Vor a military term?  If so what does it mean?

[Psychopoesie]

Is Vor a military term?  If so what does it mean?

Yes. It's from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga books and refers to a military (and aristocratic) class on the fictional world, Barrayar. One of my favourite series ever.

http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/Vor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_McMaster_Bujold

[Lady Snowdon]

What does bird-dogging someone mean?  A person used it in a comment on FB the other day, and I can't figure it out from context - they just said something like "stop bird-dogging me". 

[Elfmama]

What does bird-dogging someone mean?  A person used it in a comment on FB the other day, and I can't figure it out from context - they just said something like "stop bird-dogging me".

Following closely, like a dog follows its master or tracks a bird.