Can You Eat the Pumpkin You Use for a Halloween Jack-O-Lantern?

Halloween is coming up fast. Which got me thinking . . . can you EAT the pumpkin you carve into a jack-o-lantern?

According to food safety experts . . . NO. You can use a pumpkin as a cooking ingredient or as a decoration, but not both.

Pumpkins are a low-acid vegetable, so once they’re cut and sit at room temperature, pathogens will grow rapidly on the skin.

We’re also not usually following proper food-handling procedures when we’re carving pumpkins . . . stuff like washing hands before carving, washing the pumpkin, carving them on clean surfaces, and using clean tools.

You could eat the pumpkin if you decorate it without cutting into it . . . by drawing or painting a face on the pumpkin instead of carving it. But even then, bigger carving pumpkins aren’t ideal for eating, since they usually don’t have the best flavor or texture.

One thing you CAN do after carving a pumpkin is save the seeds and roast them. Pumpkin seeds can be eaten if the seeds are removed while carving and immediately washed and roasted, or refrigerated before roasting.

(Huff Post)
Photo by Taylor Foss on Unsplash