If your house is anything like ours this weekend you'll be gearing up for the annual Hallowe'en ritual of dressing up the kids and decorating the front door in preparation for the endless procession of sugar-crazed vampires, witches and superheroes knocking at the door. Of course a big part of the tradition is making a jack o' lantern which in my day was carved out of the humble turnip, at the time frankly the best use for it in my opinion. That smell of candle wax and burning neep is engraved in my senses and brings back memories of childhood guising!
Nowadays of course the humble turnip has been replaced by the very American pumpkin and in recent times has seen the foyer of supermarkets dominated by large bins of the orange squash type veg by the end of September.
Last year I have to admit I was a bit slow off the mark and all the supermarkets had run out to the horror of the family. As a last resort I decided to venture to a local 'pick my own' farm. Thankfully I managed to pick up a couple of runts of the decimated patch and Hallowe'en was saved.....kind of.
Keen not to make the same mistake this year we made the trek to Cairnie fruit farm in deepest darkest Fife last weekend which was going like an annual pumpkin fair on national pumpkin day in a bad year for pumpkins! Bedlam!
Caught up in the moment, the challenge was of course to find the biggest specimens in the field of which there were ample. Forgetting completely that this was going to cost, in comparison to the humble neep, an arm and a leg. And, that by lunchtime on November 1st, the artfully sculpted lanterns would be mere compost fodder, we filled our wheelbarrow carefree with a couple of the finest specimens!
Fourteen quid lighter and 15kg of pumpkin heavier we departed the chaos triumphant.
This weekend I will now be deseeding, scraping cutting and carving suitably ghoulish designs to furnish the porch and justify the lavish expense.
But what of the waste? Well this year I have a plan to put to use the normally discarded entrails thanks to one of my customers.
Check out my Pumpkin soup recipe in our blog section.
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