Pumpkins

Every October our neighborhood is filled with pumpkins, ghosts, haunted houses, covens of witches, pretend grave-stones, giant inflatable spiders, and many more Halloween-themed gardens and elaborately garnished houses. I’ve posted photos of these wonderful and imaginative decorations before, and many of the neighbors reuse and expand the same tableaux every year. Next door to us, there’s a new, simple and delightful yard scene:

I’m thinking a lot about pumpkins, thanks to all the nearby displays, but I’m thinking about pumpkins as food! My own favorite pumpkin dishes are pumpkin soup, pumpkin stew, and pumpkin sautés, all with savory spices and usually lots of onion and peppers. I posted my pumpkin lasagne recipe a few years ago:

 https://maefood.blogspot.com/2010/11/pumpkin-lasagna-recipe-by-request.html

My choice is always for fresh pumpkin with some of the crisp texture preserved: never canned purée! Sweetened pumpkin dishes flavored with the traditional “pumpkin pie spice,” such as pumpkin pie, turnovers, muffins, and cheesecake don’t appeal to me as much. Least of all do I like sweet pumpkin beverages. The less said about Starbucks, the better.

Pumpkin Juice

I do want to mention Harry Potter, though, and the amusing beverage pumpkin juice that was served at Hogwarts. Another clever twist in these most-imaginative books. Obviously, witches want pumpkin. (Obviously? Well, yes.)

The Hogwarts Dining Hall.

Did pumpkin juice even exist before Hogwarts? Surely not very much. I find the idea quite unpalatable, though the many recipes on offer web-wise add lots of sweeteners like brown sugar, other fruit flavors, and a hefty dose of  “the spice” to balance out the actual pumpkin taste. I suspect the young witches were drinking straight pumpkin juice: they are different from you and especially me.

Boozy Pumpkins?

“11 Pumpkin Cocktails to Try Right Now” by Naren Young”—  https://www.liquor.com/articles/pumpkin-cocktails/  — recently appeared on a website about all things liquor. I’m not much of a cocktail drinker (I have had one cocktail in approximately the last two years) but I find this to be a very entertaining article. It mentions a Sazerac, a Flip, a Buck, a Toddy, a Nog, a Margarita, a Ramos Gin Fizz, a Piña Colada, a Whiskey Sour, a Gimlet, and an Old Fashioned made with pumpkin, as well as a few others. I do like cocktail names!

Naren Young’s  Pumpkin Punch, served in little pumpkins.
Contents: "bourbon and ginger liqueur with apple,
lemon and pineapple juices, pumpkin puree and a fall spice syrup."
Maybe this is what the house elves concocted for the Hogwarts’ faculty.

Whatever you drink for Halloween, I hope you will have a great holiday! I still haven’t decided if I will invite the trick-or-treaters this year. It’s still a little risky, I think, though I’d love to see the costumes.

Blog post © 2021 mae sander, photos as credited.