![]() Remove the seeds from the pulp and rinse them in a colander under cool water, then spread them in a thin layer to dry. The pulp and seeds can be thrown away, or you can leave them on a paper plate in the yard for squirrels and birds. Metal ice cream scoops work best today to remove the goo. As a kid, I’d use my hands and a big tablespoon. Inside the pumpkin is a fibrous knot of seeds and flesh that must be removed before carving. This prevents the lid from dropping into the interior of the pumpkin. Whatever you do, cut the lid off at an angle, not straight up and down. You can cut an oval “hatch” in the back to open up the back-end and reach the interior. One way to open up the pumpkin without fussing with the tough, fibrous top skin is to open the back of the pumpkin. It’s easy to slip with the knife on the tough skin, so be careful. Whether you use a saw, electrical saw or large knife, ALWAYS have an adult in the family do the major surgery to open up the pumpkin. ![]() Some people actually use a small electrical saw to cut the top off, but I say that’s cheating. The top of the pumpkin where the stem connects to the fruit is actually the toughest part of the entire pumpkin, and more difficult than any other to cut. Pumpkins can be tough to carve, but hey, they’re better than the turnips that used to be used as jack o’lanterns by the Irish, who brought the tradition to America. Friendly jack o’lantern meant the eyes were right-side up triangles and the toothed smile was upturned…scary meant that the eyes were upside-down triangle and the mouth turned down in an evil grimace. Scary pumpkin or friendly pumpkin? Scary always won out. Teens would go around and smash kids jack o’lanterns just out of meanness on Halloween.īut oh, the pumpkins! The choices! Each year, I’d think about what I would carve. I wasn’t allowed to light it until Halloween, and we had to sit and ‘babysit’ our pumpkins, both to prevent fires and to prevent the big kids from smashing them in our neighborhood. From then on, it was my job to scoop out the goo and seeds, carve a face, and place the candle inside. We’d spread newspapers in the driveway or on the basement floor and my parents or an older sibling would use the big steak knife to cut out a hole around the top of the pumpkin. The big one was for the family, the small one for me, the baby of the family. The weekend before Halloween, my father would bring home one huge pumpkin and a smaller pumpkin for me to carve. When I was a little girl, carving our Halloween pumpkins was a treat I looked forward to every year. Plus, tips for choosing pumpkins, new pumpkin decorating ideas and more. What’s Halloween without a jack o’lantern? These pumpkin carving tips will help you create the best jack o’lantern ever.
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