According to Hubbub, each year millions of pumpkins are bought for the purpose of decoration but did you know… Out of the nearly 40 million pumpkins that will be purchased this year, a huge 22 million of them will go to waste?! 

At The Scottish Bee Company, we feel very strongly about reducing food waste to help the planet. When food is thrown out and sent to landfill, it begins to break down and releases a great amount of methane gas. This contributes to global warming and the deterioration of the ozone layer. Clearly this is not good for our planet. If we change our mindset on food waste management, we can all have a positive impact on reducing it!

Therefore, with Halloween coming up we thought it was important to share some methods in which you can reuse your Jack-o’-Lanterns. Pumpkins are an incredibly versatile vegetable and are in abundance this season. Their inner flesh can be used in baking, soups, in a roasted vegetable traybake or blended to make a sweet hummus. You can even toast or roast the seeds with your favourite seasoning and top over salads or for a quick snack. Here are a few of our favourite recipes for pumpkins, we hope you enjoy them! All the dishes are vegetarian-friendly.

Pumpkin Muffins 

These muffins are the perfect autumnal recipe, the cinnamon and pumpkin flavours compliment each other so well. They are easy to make as well so why not get the kids involved in this one for a fun activity?

You can customise the muffins anyway you want; add chocolate chips or blackberries to the mix or you could top with a slice of apple and a sprinkle of brown sugar before baking. Each way is equally delicious.

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients: 

225g plain flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
50g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar (or why not substitute this with our sweet and creamy Signature Blend Honey?)
125g salted butter, melted
2 large free-range eggs
200g pumpkin puree 

Method for Pumpkin Puree: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180℃. 
2. Halve the pumpkin and remove the seeds. Brush with oil and place flesh facing down on a parchment-lined baking tray. Pierce the skin with a fork or knife a few times to allow steam to escape. 
3. Roast for 45-50 minutes. 
4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes. 
5. Once it’s cooled down, the flesh will be soft enough to scoop out. Then blend until smooth.

Method for Pumpkin Muffins:

1. Preheat the oven to 180℃. 
2. Line a muffin tin with muffin cases, if like us you forgot to buy muffin cases then you can grease the muffin tin with butter and they will slide out easily.
3. Mix together all the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, both sugars (if using honey, leave to mix this with the wet ingredients).
4. Whisk together the pumpkin puree and eggs then add this and the melted butter to the dry ingredient mixture. Whisk until combined and a batter has formed. 
5. At this point, you can add chocolate chips or some blackberries. 
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tray and bake for 15 minutes. Insert a skewer to ensure the batter is fully cooked, if it comes out clean then it’s ready to enjoy!

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta 

We guarantee you will still have some pumpkin puree leftover so why not give this quick and simple creamy, cheesy pumpkin pasta a go? 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

Olive oil 
500g pumpkin 
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp tomato paste
50-100ml milk (whole preferred)
2 tbsp mascarpone
40g parmesan cheese, grated
350g pasta 

Method:

1. Over a medium heat, heat up the olive oil. Add the finely chopped onions with a pinch of salt and fry for 10 minutes until softened and translucent. Add the crushed garlic and fry for a further minute or so.
2. If you don’t have any leftover pumpkin puree then here is a fast way to cook your pumpkin. Chop up the pumpkin into cubes and boil in a pan of boiling water for 10-15 minutes until soft.
3. Drain and add the pumpkin to a blender and blend with 50ml of milk to begin with. Then keep adding milk to reach the desired consistency.
4. Add the blended pumpkin to a pan with the mascarpone, tomato paste and seasoning, bring to a low simmer. Why not try a dash of one of our apple cider vinegar infusions here?
5. Cook the pasta in a pan with boiling salted water to the packet instructions. Reserve a cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta. 
6. Add the cooked pasta to the pumpkin sauce and mix to combine. Add your parmesan cheese, some of the pasta water and continue mixing. 
7. Once combined to make a smooth and silky sauce, plate up and serve with some extra parmesan and chilli flakes. 

Pumpkin Soup

This soup is the epitome of comfort food. A no fuss recipe which is incredibly simple. Anyone could make it! The perfect dish for lunch or as a starter at dinner parties. We think that this meal should always be served with crunchy bread and butter!

Serves 6 

Ingredients: 

Olive oil 
1kg pumpkin 
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
700ml vegetable stock 
1 tsp chilli flakes
150ml double cream (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180℃. 
2. Halve the pumpkin, remove the seeds and chop into chunks. Keep the seeds for roasting! Drizzle olive oil over the pumpkin and season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes. For extra indulgence, drizzle over some honey! Roast for 40-45 minutes until tender.
3. Chop up the onion and garlic cloves and cook in a large pan for around 10 minutes with salt until soft.
4. Once the pumpkin is ready, add to the pan with the stock.
5. Blend with a hand blender until smooth, add more stock if needed to reach your desired consistency. You could add 150ml of double cream here and blend again, if you would like it to be creamy. However this is optional, it’s just as delicious without. 
6. Spoon into bowls and top with your favourite topping perhaps a splash of cream, croutons or some roasted pumpkin seeds. 

Hope you all have a great Halloween weekend and be sure to share your favourite pumpkin recipe with us! 

If you would like to add any of our pure Scottish honeys to these recipes, you can shop our range here. Or you can find our Apple Cider Vinegar Infusions range here.