Have you ever cooked with real fresh pumpkin instead of the canned stuff?

Question

Does it taste the same? Better? Worse?

Answer 1

Always, always, always.
It's wonderful.
After you steam it, you just use your hand mixer to make it creamy. It isn't as creamy as the canned stuff, but the little bit of junks makes pies taste so much better.
My family likes to eat plain steamed pumpkin instead of mashed potatoes too.
We make pumpkin muffins, which we like on the chunky side, bread, pudding and so on.

Answer 2

No it does not taste the same. Fresh pumpkin is better and it is not as much work as you would think. You do not want to use the dark orange pumpkins that are popular for jack-o-lanterns, you want to find a light orange pumpkin, the ones that aren't shiny, I think these are called old-fashion or sugar pumpkins. Anyway, get out a cookie sheet and turn the oven on to 425 degrees. As your oven is heating start preparing your pumpkin. Start out by cutting a lid for it, as if you were carving a jack-o-lantern, clean all of the seeds out and as much of the stringy stuff as you can. Rub some cinnamon, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice on the inside of it. Place the lid back on it and bake it for roughly 3 hours, maybe longer. You will know if it is finished baking when you can take a fork and almost effortlessly punture the tuff skin/rhine. When it is finished, pull it out and let it cool, and then the skin should peel off easily. Find you a good fresh pumpkin pie recipe online and puree the amount of pumpkin you need. You can also make a pumpkin cream cheese dip and lots more with fresh pumpkin. Its awesome, try it. Also, the pie that I made recently with fresh pumpkin came out so much fluffier than a canned recipe.

Answer 3

Yes, I have used fresh pumpkin before. It is a little work to process but it does have a fresher taste. The way my grandmother would process it is as follows: Cut pumpkin in 1/2 lengthwise;cut off stem & clean out seeds; lay meat side down on baking sheet or in a baking dish with side; add water; cook in 350 degree oven until cooking fork will pierce skin; when done, CAREFULLY remove from oven let cool & run thru a blender or food processer until smooth.
I have found some real good recipes for fresh pumpkin on allrecipes.com. Good luck & enjoy!

Answer 4

Fresh pumpkin tastes better, but is extremely labor intensive, cooking and pureeing to the right consistency. It also is more variable in moisture content, so recipes may need to be adjusted or you end up with pumpkin soup instead of pumpkin pie - Sadly, I know this from experience.

Answer 5

My mom used to make pumpkin pies with it when we were little! I usually use the canned stuff, but I've been meaning to pick up a couple of fresh punkins this year and try it myself.

As I understand it, the little pumpkins are best for cooking and are designated in the store or at the patch as "pie pumpkins"...the big ones used for jack-o-lanterns are too tough and pulpy (makes sense).

Answer 6

Fresh pumpkin is a lot better. I find the metallic taste in canned pumpkin.

Answer 7

Years ago when I was young and energetic, I cooked fresh pumpkin, mashed it well, and froze it in baggies. I had pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread all winter. A note on pumpkin bread: I saved cans (juice cans, #303 cans that veggies came in, and soup cans. Washed and dried them and then greased the insides and made pumpkin bread in them. When cold, I wrapped the bread in cling wrap and then foil and froze them. Easy to thaw for snacks or when guests dropped in for coffee.

Answer 8

I used fresh pumpkin 1 time ---never again way to much work and just didn't care for the taste!!

have used the Libby brand ever sense

Answer 9

I made a roasted, cubed pumpkin dish one time after having it prepared that way in Jamaica...really good, and very good for you....just a little smart blend spread, some herbs...mmmmm

Answer 10

Yuck canned pumpkin! never tried it nor have i heard of it. thats like buying tinned potatoes.