The New Complete Book of Food
The Most Nutritious Way to Serve This Food
Pumpkin. Baked. Boiled pumpkin absorbs water, so ounce for ounce, baked pumpkin has
more nutrients than boiled pumpkin.
Pumpkin seeds. Dried, with beans (peanuts) —to complete the proteins in the seeds.Diets That May Restrict or Exclude This Food
Low-fat (the seeds)
Low-fiber (particularly the seeds)Buying This Food
Look for: A pumpkin with a bright orange, blemish-free rind. The pumpkin should feel
heavy for its size.
Look for: Seeds in sealed packages to protect them from air and moisture.Storing This Food
Store pumpkins in a cool, dry place and use within a month. Vitamin A is vulnerable to
oxygen; the longer the pumpkin is stored, the less vitamin A it will have.Preparing This Food
Wash the pumpkin under cold running water, then cut it in half or in quarters or in smaller
portions, as you wish. Pull off the stringy parts and collect and set aside the seeds. Leave the
rind on if you plan to bake large pieces of the pumpkin; peel it off for boiling. If the pumpkin
is small enough and/or your oven is large enough, you can simply scoop out the strings and
seeds and bake the pumpkin whole, as you would a large acorn squash.What Happens When You Cook This Food
Pumpkin. When you bake a pumpkin, the soluble food fibers in its cell walls dissolve and the
pumpkin gets softer. If you bake it too long, the moisture inside the cells will begin to evapo-
rate and the pumpkin will shrink. When you boil pumpkin, it’s just the opposite. The cell
walls still soften, but its cells absorb water and the vegetable swells. (Boil it too long, though,
and the cells will rupture, moisture will escape, and the pumpkin once again will shrink).
Baking also caramelizes sugars on the cut surface of the pumpkin, browning the veg-
etable. Since the pumpkin is not extraordinarily high in sugars, we help this along by dusting