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Pumpkin calories

Old 10-06-2011, 06:46 AM
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Default Pumpkin calories

I was curious about something. I'm going to get some pumpkins to carve for halloween and usually when I scoop them out there's a lot of flesh of the pumpkin I take off the walls. Normally I just dump all this out. However I was thinking of saving some of it and either steaming it or boiling it and eating it this year instead.

Carving pumpkins are supposed to have a lot less sugar than regular eating pumpkins so I was wondering if they had fewer calories.

To be on the safe side I could always log it as pumpkin, raw in the fit day thing (weighing it before boiling it) but I thought it might have a different calorie count.

It would help me save some money if I could eat this because I've been spending a lot more on food since I decided to eat more fruits and vegetables.
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Old 10-06-2011, 10:54 AM
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Pumpkin soup is delicious and can be fairly low calorie depending on what you add. I prepare it like a squash soup. The last one I made had chicken stock, onion, apple, 2 oz ham and cream(optional) It called for a little cinnamin and nutmeg. I expect it would also be good with cumin.

Mary
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Old 10-06-2011, 10:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Kumochi
Pumpkin soup is delicious and can be fairly low calorie depending on what you add. I prepare it like a squash soup. The last one I made had chicken stock, onion, apple, 2 oz ham and cream(optional) It called for a little cinnamin and nutmeg. I expect it would also be good with cumin.

Mary
Thanks for the idea Mary.

My main question though is if carving pumpkins have fewer calories than baking/sugar pumpkins.

I don't eat anything I can't log.

If it comes down to it, I'll log it as pumpkin, raw. However, I'm assuming the pumpkin in the database is for sugar pumpkins, not carving pumpkins.
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Old 10-07-2011, 01:06 AM
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I never knew there were different types of pumpkins. I'll be interested to learn if there is a calorie difference. Oh, and don't forget to roast the seed, very tasty!

Regards,
Michael
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Old 10-07-2011, 01:37 AM
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I've been raising pumpkins my whole life and I can tell you that the main difference between a carving pumpkin and a pie pumpkin is size, you can in fact grow both on the same vine, but there are tons of different varieties out there (and seriously they are generally crossbred to the point where it's not sure what you planted is what will grow). I've eaten both large carving varieties and small pie varieties and they taste identical, so I would guess that there isn't a caloric difference, but then again I've never taken any to a lab and had an analysis run. I think more important than variety would be the soil conditions that they are grown in. There are people that grow "milk" pumpkins and I would suspect that such a pumpkin might be higher in calories than the regular "let God water it" sort.

I applaud your efforts to save money, waste not - want not, and all that. But there might be a way to gain a little bit more than just the scrapings, for years now I've made the kids wait until like 1-2 days before Halloween to carve their pumpkins so the morning after I can chop and bake the Halloween decor for pies, muffins, cakes etc. Luckily where we live it's refrigerator cold at the end of October, so they stay fresh enough outside on the front steps. Oh, and if you think the kids might have issues with it, go over the objective beforehand. My kids LOVE pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bisque, pumpkin pancakes, so they're game to help me chop up their artwork and eat it.

We usually make quite a bit of pumpkin puree on November 1, I bake it first, scrap it off the rind and then run it through the blender with a little bit of water, and then freeze it in baggies or freezer boxes. All of our fave recipes use 2 cups of pumpkin, so I usually measure it out like that for each bag. It takes the afternoon, but you probably won't have to buy any more pumpkin for the year. Oh and Michael is right about the seeds, very tasty. Last year we made ours with a sprinkle of soy sauce and a dash of ginger, much yum.

Last edited by almeeker; 10-07-2011 at 01:49 AM.
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Old 10-07-2011, 02:24 AM
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Great idea amy and it sure beats watching the pumpkins rot before you finally toss them on the compost. I'll suggest it to my son in law. My own pumpkin is an electric one so that won't work! I do get to carve them at my childrens' houses with the grandkids.

I'm still on strike but lurking on the forums reading so I don't stray too far. Mary
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Old 10-07-2011, 10:58 PM
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Thanks for the great message almeeker. I usually carve my pumpkins on the day of halloween because mold sets in really fast here in Houston. I don't have any children but I enjoy carving pumpkins and handing out candy on Halloween.

I like to take pictures of them and enjoy them for a few days after I put the work into carving them. When they get moldy which is usually pretty quickly I toss them.

I don't know if I want to eat them after I had them set out on the front porch because of the possibility of bugs crawling around inside and laying eggs or something (it's a warm, humid climate). However I will definitely be using the pumpkin scrapings and your post helped me a lot.

If I ever live in a cooler climate I may be able to use the rest of the pumpkin too after I'm done with handing out candy.

Thank you!
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Old 11-01-2011, 03:54 AM
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I've already eaten some of the jack-o-lantern pumpkin a couple of times and it's really great. I had some heated up in the microwave yesterday and I added some to some soup I was making today. It was a good addition with very few calories. It's a little blander than most winter squash, more like say, spaghetti squash than butternut, but still good.
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Old 11-01-2011, 05:31 AM
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My favorite way to eat pumpkin as a side dish is with a dollop of fat free sour cream (or Greek yogurt), a bit of sweetener (sugar, splenda, brown sugar, whatever), some cinnamon, ginger and some egg to thicken it. I stir everything together and heat it up in a double boiler until it's custard consistency. It tastes like pumpkin pie, but without the calories of pie crust. Of course it makes you want a big scoop of whipped cream on top.
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Old 11-01-2011, 05:38 AM
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Thanks for the recipe
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