Home › Forums › General Discussions › Cinderella Pumpkins for Baking
- This topic has 18 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.
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September 9, 2017 at 8:05 pm #9016
The first pumpkins have started appearing at the Farmers' Market. Some were clearly the decorative type. At one vendor, I was told that the pie pumpkins will not be ready for a couple more weeks. They suggested a "Cinderella" pumpkin, and they said these are good for pies and baking. I did not buy one, but I did google it this evening, and people do seem to like them in pies and breads.
Has anyone here used a Cinderella pumpkin for baking? How does the consistency compare to a pie pumpkin that has been roasted and the pumpkin scooped out of the shell and pureed? If the people are there next week, I might buy one and try it.
September 9, 2017 at 8:45 pm #9018I've never understood what makes a pumpkin a 'pie' pumpkin, but the Cinderella pumpkin has been grown in France for centuries and is said to be quite good for eating purposes. (I don't really care for pumpkin pie, so it makes no difference to me, I've had some pumpkin soups that were OK, but I don't eat much squash of any kind, except for ratatouille.)
September 19, 2017 at 10:43 pm #9094I bought a Cinderella pumpkin at the farmers' market on Saturday when the vender sold it to me for the same price as the two pie pumpkins I also bought. It had a light orange skin with "warts" on it that remind me of peanut shells. Although he told me that they develop because of excess sugar in the pumpkin, I could find no supporting evidence for that on Google, and my husband (a plant physiologist) was doubtful.
Today I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and roasted it my usual way, cut side down, in a heavy Calphalon roasting pan at 325F. It took 1 hour 40 minutes to get tender. I then scooped out the cooked squash from the rind and used my food processor. It is a bright orange, whereas most of my pie pumpkins are a browner orange.
I have decided not to use it for pie. The smell is very much what I would call more squash than pumpkin, and my husband thought so as well. I don't think it would make the kind of pie that we both would want it to be. I will use it in quick breads, possibly some rolls, and maybe soup. I have about 8 cups.
Later this week, I'll do the two pie pumpkins, so that I'll know if I want to buy any more from this vender. I'm hoping these will be more of what I would use for pie.
Am I the only one who makes such a strong distinction between pumpkin and squash? I know that most canned pumpkin actually uses squash, but I do not use canned pumpkin.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
September 20, 2017 at 8:08 am #9099I use a variety of pumpkins/squash for baking with great success. However some pumpkins are much tastier than others. I have used Boston Marrow, Long Neck pumpkins, Kobacha, Pink Banana. I remember one which was yellow and boring and even after baked didn't have much flavor.
I think I remember a Cinderella pumpkin as a rather flat pumpkin with deeply lobed sides like the pumpkin used to make Cinderella's coach. I can't remember what it tasted like but the grower and google claimed it was an old French cooking pumpkin.
I like to go to the Farmer's market and buy different varieties, always asking if the pumpkin is mainly decorative or mainly for cooking. All pumpkins/squashes are theoretically edible. I was told that the common jack-o-lantern pumpkins are coarse fleshed and watery without much taste.
Google said that pumpkins and winter squash are the same species or at least closely related enough to interbreed freely.September 20, 2017 at 8:36 am #9101Hmm. After doing some more internet surfing, I found this pumpkin discussion at Sunset:
http://www.sunset.com/garden/fruits-veggies/#pumpkin-gree-goblin
The pumpkin I used looks like that Green Goblin pumpkin (Italian variety), except that it had tan bumps the color of peanut shell. The article recommends it fosr roasting and eating with olive oil and herbs. Other names for it are sea pumpkin or ‘Marina di Chioggia’.
Ok, more internet surfing gives me this:
It's a Peanut Pumpkin--only mine had a lot more of the "peanuts" on the outside. Here it does say that they form due to excess sugar. It also says it is an heirloom that was a cross between a Hubbard squash and an unknown pumpkin variety. That makes sense, given what I noted about its "squash" flavor.
Also, here is a pumpkin guide that has a picture of a pumpkin like the one I roasted. It is from France: the Galeux d’Eysines.:
http://www.bachmans.com/files/Email_Marketing/eClub/Insider/PumpkinGuide.pdf
OK, just one more:
http://fullfreezer.blogspot.com/2010/09/brode-galeux-deysines.html- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: Added additional information
- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
September 22, 2017 at 4:08 pm #9119Back, many, many years ago when I was in college the dining hall would serve something called "New England Squash Pie". When I asked the cooks what it was like they would say "pumpkin pie" and, indeed, it tasted much like pumpkin pie.
Looking online for recipes it appears "squash pie" is made with butternut squash instead of pumpkins but has the same trio of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg that is in everything come fall. I've always been too lazy to roast my own pumpkins which is, perhaps, why I did not think there would be much difference between varieties of pumpkins (or other squash) when you start adding sugar, eggs, and the trio.
One such recipe can be found at this link.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.
September 22, 2017 at 4:32 pm #9122Aaron, I used to drag myself to do pumpkins until I found a simple puree recipe. I had been cutting up the pumpkin, cutting off the peel and either simmering it on the stove or in the microwave. That was tedious. Now, I cut them in half lengthwise (although the odd pumpkin I used this time would probably have been better split horizontally due to its shape), then use a grapefruit spoon to scrape out the seeds. (Note: I do not eat grapefruit or use grapefruit spoons. My mother gave me a set in my everyday eating utensils, and my husband's parents had some that we inherited. They do come in handy for other uses.)
I put them cut-side down in a heavy roasting pan (Calphalon) then let it bake at 325F. The small pie pumpkins usually take an hour or so, depending on size. Sometimes I can do two pumpkins at once. When the skin starts to collapse in on the pie pumpkins (or the flesh is tender), I remove from the oven, and allow to cool a bit in the pan until I can handle them. I turn each half cut-side out, cut into slices, and usually the peel comes off easily, and I put the pieces into the food processor to puree it. I measure it into containers, with some earmarked for pie, and others in half cup or one cup containers. I use it throughout the year.
It is important to use pie pumpkins. I think the variety I bought in Texas was called Baby Bear from Melissa's.
My mom always used our jack-o-lantern pumpkin--one reason that she always had a watery pie that took forever to bake--because she hated the idea of food going to waste, a trait that I share, although I send any jack-o-lantern off to the compost pile. At one point, when my father was discharged from the navy, and was unemployed for a few months, my mother was able to get a station wagon-load of big pumpkins after Halloween that the vender was giving away. We ate a lot of roasted pumpkin with butter in those months. When you are feeding eight children, half of whom are teenagers, you do what you have to do. It's amazing that I still like the taste of pumpkin.
I've never been able to make roasted pumpkin seeds that I wanted to eat. I only like them hulled, and I've not heard of any easy way to do that at home.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
September 22, 2017 at 4:47 pm #9127Hmmm... Perhaps I'll try it this year. Our Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins are usually attacked by squirrels although last year we coated them with some WD40 and that kept the squirrels at bay long enough to have the pumpkins for Halloween. I would have used them so thanks for the tip on pie pumpkins. Right now my daughter wants an apple pie so I may have to make one of those. Then I can try making my own pumpkin puree.
September 23, 2017 at 12:16 pm #9130I was back at the farmers market today and bought a small Cinderella pumpkin. I want to compare it with the "peanut" pumpkin and the two pie pumpkins. I'll have to split it vertically, however, if I want to bake both halves at the same time. Even my large Calphalon roaster will not hold it if I split it horizontally.
Like Skeptic 7, I like to experiment with what I find at the farmers' market and to encourage these small growers.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
October 30, 2017 at 8:18 pm #9543Today I baked the Cinderella pumpkin that I mention in the previous post. I roasted it as I always do, cut side down, without water, in a heavy Calphalon roasting pan at 325F. I let it go for 1 hour and 20 minutes, at which time it was soft. What I noted immediately was the large amount of water that had collected in the pan. I poured it off, but more continued to come out of the pumpkin, which I then turned cut side up and let sit while we had dinner.
After dinner, I emptied more water, then scooped the squash out of the shell. Clearly it had a lot of water. I do not know where my cheesecloth or my good strainers are packed. While rummaging around, however, I did find some of the large industrial coffee filters that I bought to use when I blind bake a crust. I lined a colander, set it over a bowl, and dumped in the squash. It has been draining for about 90 minutes, and approximately 2 cups of water have drained away. I will give it additional time, then I will puree it. I kicked my husband out of the kitchen when he remarked that I was "draining" the nutrients. While that may be partly true, I cannot bake with watery puree.
The Cinderella pumpkin is definitely a LOT more work than the pie pumpkins due to its much higher water content. With the pie pumpkins, once I roast them, I can puree them, and I'm done. Waiting for the puree to drain is an additional, time-consuming step, and it seems to produce a less desirable product. Perhaps it needed to roast at a higher temperature, or maybe watery is the nature of Cinderella pumpkins. I did not have this issue with the "peanut" pumpkin.
In terms of smell, it is more squashy than a pie pumpkin. Of course, that was also true of the "peanut" pumpkin, but that alleviated after it had been refrigerated overnight.
October 30, 2017 at 10:35 pm #9544So serve him the juice at breakfast. 🙂
October 31, 2017 at 8:27 am #9548Darn, I wish I had thought of that Mike before I poured it down the sink!
I let the pumpkin continue to drain in the refrigerator last night, and an additional 1/2 cup of liquid came out. Probably 3-4 cups of liquid came out altogether. I will probably only get 3-4 cups of puree--less than I would get from a much smaller pie pumpkin. Although the vender at the farmers' market said that this is the pumpkin she uses for her pies, I'll stick with the pie pumpkins, or even the peanut pumpkin. Given how the pie pumpkins and peanut pumpkins roast, I think that they have more sugar content.
October 31, 2017 at 8:38 am #9549Silly BA! Everyone knows Cinderella pumpkins are for making coaches not pies!
If you need some horses I have some mice!
November 1, 2017 at 8:20 am #9564Riverside Len--I'm not sure that even baking this Cinderella pumpkin right side up would have made a difference, since there was so much water in it. When I looked online, people roasted it cut side down. That has worked for my pie pumpkin and the "peanut" pumpkin, but both of those appear to have much less water in them. If I ever do another Cinderella (my husband may plant some of its seeds), then I will try your suggestion.
November 1, 2017 at 8:29 pm #9600Admin note: I split the discussion about mice off from the one about cooking Cinderella pumpkins.
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