Do n’t just chop them up at Halloween , used in soups , pies , and glut , pumpkins make a delectable addition to our fall menus . Fiona Lawrenson shed the beans
I ’ve seen arise men cry over the visual sense of a giant pumpkin , and serious money can be won and lost on these amazing vegetables . If you do n’t sense up to growing show - standard pumpkin vine , but fancy do your own Halloween lantern or , more in my line , a delicious , hearty soup , then take bank note . Pumpkins are coolheaded and in trend .
Firstly , these giant vegetables are not hardy , so implant out after all risk of frost has passed . Find yourself an open and gay site with soil that is moisture retentive , well - enfeeble , has a neutral to more or less acidic pH level , and is racy in nutrients ( so mickle of well - rotted manure dig in ) .
Cucurbita pepo are not the loose vegetable to acquire from seed indoors as they can be unmanageable to graft , so sow in situ a match of weeks before the last expect frosts . A top : to encourage fast germination , soak the seeds in water overnight then direct two to three seeds , in the same locating , at a depth of one column inch . Raise a circular ridge of filth around them , as this will turn on the water to be retain in the beleaguer hollow . Place a jam jarful over the seeds to dissemble as a mini nursery . Once these have develop , thin to one seedling . pumpkin vine are thirsty plant and need plenty of weewee for the prime to set and the yield to tumefy .
Good filth preparation should provide enough food , but if you feel still that it lacks aliment add a liquidfeed during the time that the plantsare swelling . Also , mulch around the plant as they get to conserve moisture and suppress any weeds .
Pumpkins are ready to harvestwhen the skins are hard and sound vacuous when tapped . They should beharvested before the autumnfrosts . Pumpkins can be store for several months in a frost - free , nerveless entrepot expanse orshed .
Pumpkin and Bacon Soup
You will need:700 g ( 1 lb 8 oz ) pumpkin30 g ( 1 oz ) butter1 mass medium onion275ml ( 10fl oz ) full avoirdupois milk725ml ( 1 dry pint 6fl oz ) chicken stock3 rashers streaky baconSalt , Piper nigrum and nutmeg tree
Method : Melt the butter in a saucepan . Add the chopped onion plant and bacon – cook for 10 hour to soften . supply the chop Cucurbita pepo flesh , stir and tally table salt and pepper to taste . Cook , on a low heat , for a further 10 minutes with the saucepan lid on . Pour in the store and milk and simmer for a further 20 minutes . Do n’t give up the miscellany to boil . At this stage the pumpkin should be courteous and soft . Pour the concoction into a blender . Blend .
The soup is delicious served warm topped with a convolution of cream and a sprinkling of primer coat nutmeg tree and eaten with crusty lucre .
Visit our Superstore to see its reach of pumpkin and othervegetable seminal fluid
article reissue with permission from Greenfingers.com
