How To Use Pumpkin Fruits And Seeds For Medicinal And Culinary Purposes

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

The irreplaceable pumpkin

Once upon a time in Russia, pumpkin was a recognized and widely used food product. She was present both on the table of the poor and on the menu of the rich. Later, preference was given to other crops, in particular, potatoes. It's a pity, because pumpkin is an irreplaceable dietary product, useful for a variety of diseases.

And it is in the autumn and winter that the fertile pumpkin season begins, when the harvest has long been harvested, and pumpkins are in abundance - you can experiment with pumpkin dishes, and at the same time heal your body. But first, a few words about storing pumpkin.

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What is the best way to save the pumpkin?

1. For the pumpkin to be stored longer, the skin must be intact, and the tail of the fruit should be cut off. The best storage place is a dark, cool, dry room with good ventilation, in which the pumpkin can lie from one to five months (it depends on the variety) …

2. You can cut the pumpkin into several parts, wrap them with cling film and put in the refrigerator - in this form, the pumpkin can be stored for about 5 days.

3. You can cut a large pumpkin, grate it on a coarse grater, arrange the pulp in small plastic bags and send them to the freezer, where the pumpkin is stored for up to six months. The pumpkin prepared in this way can be further used, for example, for making cereals.

The benefits of pumpkin

Today, it has been established by accounting records that pumpkin is high in carotene, oil-containing amino acids and vitamins that support vision, heart, kidney and liver function, and it is also the champion among vegetables in terms of iron content. Pumpkin contains B vitamins, vitamins C and E, rare vitamin T (helps accelerate metabolic processes in the body) and vitamin K (necessary for good blood clotting).

In addition, pumpkin is rich in pectin substances that are good at removing toxic compounds and cholesterol from the body. As a result, pumpkin pulp improves bowel function in case of constipation, enhances the excretion of chlorides from the body and increases urine output without irritating the kidney tissue. Therefore, it is especially useful for problems with the liver, urinary and gall bladders, for gout, colitis, atherosclerosis and heart disease. Moreover, even boiled pumpkin contains so many healthy substances that a small amount of it has a beneficial effect on our entire body. And if you remember that pumpkin also has a low calorie content (which means that you will definitely not be able to recover from it), then you can safely switch to the pumpkin diet.

Pumpkin seeds also contain many useful substances. It is 52% fatty oil, sugar, resinous substances, organic acids, protein, essential oil, as well as potassium, calcium, iron, copper and much more.

Everyone knows the antihelminthic properties of pumpkin seeds. It turns out that this is not all. Seeds are no less useful, for example, for the liver. And if you believe the annotations to the popular drug Tykveol, which is prepared from pumpkin seeds, it turns out that the seeds have a very wide range of effects on the body. This acceleration of tissue regeneration, and improvement of liver function, and reduction of intoxication of the body, as well as a pronounced antiulcer, antiseptic and anti-sclerotic effect.

Pumpkin in cosmetics

In cosmetics, pumpkin juice, seeds and pulp are widely used. The pulp and juice tone, moisturize, cleanse the skin and relieve swelling, while the seeds make the skin softer and more velvety. For example, you can make a refreshing pumpkin tonic by squeezing out the juice. They rub the face with juice several times a day, and the gruel is used as a fortified, nourishing mask. The mask is applied to the face for 15-20 minutes and washed off with warm water.

If you have dry skin, you can use the following miracle cure to moisturize it. Grind boiled pumpkin (2 tablespoons), mix with a spoonful of any vegetable oil, apply for 20-25 minutes, and then rinse everything off with warm water. Feel like the queen of the ball after the pumpkin compress, which will help refresh and moisturize the skin and close the enlarged pores. Prepare gruel (2-3 tablespoons) from boiled pumpkin. Add yolk and a teaspoon of honey. Warm up the resulting compress and apply a thick layer on the face. After 15 minutes, wash off with cool water. And if you were able to stock up on pumpkin seeds in abundance, then try such a truly royal mask that will give your skin extraordinary softness and velvety. Mash the pumpkin seeds with an equal amount of water,add a little honey to the mixture and apply this mask daily for 15 minutes until the desired effect.

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Pumpkin cooking

The pumpkin's taste is almost bland, slightly sweet, and thanks to such neutrality, the pumpkin goes well with any other ingredients. The pumpkin can be baked, boiled, or steamed. For baking, it is easier to leave the rind and cut it off later, or not cut it off at all (if you are baking a small pumpkin whole).

Pumpkin dishes are countless, and they are especially favored in various southern countries. For example, in Tunisia, a spicy pumpkin puree with olive oil and vinegar, garlic, caraway seeds and coriander is served for a snack.

In Morocco, mashed potatoes are seasoned with honey, cinnamon and poured over chicken.

In Mantua, pumpkin is stuffed with delicious tortellini, and in Cremona, you can taste excellent pumpkin risotto.

Turks deep-fry very thin slices of pumpkin and serve them with plain yogurt, they also have a pumpkin dessert in syrup with chopped walnuts and thick cream.

Almost throughout northern Italy, in the kingdom of the world's best pasta, Parma ham and Parmesan cheese, ravioli alla zucca has been the most popular and beloved dish for centuries - something like large dumplings filled with pumpkin, flavored with pepper and cinnamon.

In general, pumpkin is best eaten as mashed potatoes or used as a base for side dishes. The vegetable is cut into cubes and boiled under a lid over low heat in a little water. Then it is rubbed in puree. Then you can boil it, diluting it a little with meat broth to discourage sweetish aftertaste. In the end, it's a good idea to add more flour or cereals, as well as onions, parsley, celery, garlic, pepper, tomato juice, etc.

But you can also eat pumpkin raw. For example, it is very good in a sweet salad: grate 400 g of pumpkin and four large apples (without skin and core) on a coarse grater, mix by adding 100 g of chopped walnuts, 4 teaspoons of granulated sugar and vanilla to taste, and then season with juice one lemon. Making this salad two hours before serving will only get better, as it will soak well.

Pumpkin is often boiled, fried with and without tomatoes, mixed with rice porridge and mashed potatoes, baked puddings and casseroles, soups, breads and pies are made. In general, the recipes are countless, so we will limit ourselves to just a few fairly easy dishes.

Pumpkin puree soup with garlic

Olive oil - 1 tbsp the spoon; leeks (chopped) - 1 pc.; garlic - 2 cloves; pumpkin - 1 kg; vegetable broth - 6.5 cups; thyme - 2 tsp; ground black pepper - 1/4 tsp; soy sauce - 2 tbsp spoons; arrows of garlic - 1/4 cup

Heat olive oil in a saucepan, add finely chopped leeks and simmer until soft. Then add chopped garlic clove, pumpkin (diced), thyme and pepper, pour in broth, bring everything to a boil. Then reduce heat and cook for another 30 minutes to soften the pumpkin. Pour over soy sauce. The soup should be allowed to cool and then a smooth puree should be made from it. Before serving, you can sprinkle the soup with chopped arrows of fresh garlic, and if you like, also croutons.

Stuffed pumpkin

Cut off the top of the pumpkin, then remove the seeds and fruit pulp with a spoon, rinse thoroughly. Any filling made from semi-finished products can be put into the resulting pumpkin cavity. This will be a kind of saucepan that you can fill with anything (for example, rice with onions and chicken, beef with buckwheat, pork with potatoes, lamb with lentils), and then put in the oven with a lid. The pumpkin is baked along with the contents. Next, the fruit is already cut into slices on the table, like a watermelon, or you can remove the filling with a large spoon and scrape out the pumpkin pulp from the inside.

Sweet stuffed pumpkin (Hapama)

For one pumpkin weighing 1.5 kg you need: rice - 70 g, butter - 70 g, cherry plums - 70 g, sugar - 25 g, raisins - 30 g, apples - 200 g, cinnamon - 1 g, salt to taste …

Cut off the top of the pumpkin, then remove the seeds and fruit pulp with a spoon, rinse thoroughly. Separate the edible part of the pulp from the seeds, chop finely, add lightly boiled rice, raisins, cherry plum, apples, sugar, crushed cinnamon and stir. Fill the pumpkin with minced meat, close it tightly with the cut top, then put it on a greased baking sheet and bake in an oven until tender. Serve pumpkin, drizzled with oil.

Fish baked with pumpkin

Fish (horse mackerel, hake, cod, mackerel) - 2 pcs., Onions - 2 pcs., Pumpkin (medium size) - 1/2 pcs., Dill (chopped) - 1 tbsp. spoon, vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. spoons, egg - 3 pcs., kefir - 1 glass, salt - to taste.

The fish is cut into fillets, cut into small pieces, and the pumpkin is cut into thin slices. On the bottom of a saucepan or frying pan, put a layer of fish pieces, on them - thin slices of pumpkin so that the fish is completely covered with them. Then chopped onion and dill are placed on top. Top with a thoroughly mixed mixture of kefir, eggs and salt. Prepared vegetables and fish are placed in a hot oven (200-220 ° C) for 30-40 minutes. Serve hot.

Braids with pumpkin

1/4 l milk, 50 g yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 800 g pumpkin, 150-200 g sugar, 150-200 g butter or margarine, 3-4 pcs. bitter almonds or grated zest of 1 lemon, 1 kg of flour.

Prepare a liquid dough from warm milk, yeast and part of the flour. Peel the pumpkin, cut into pieces, simmer in a little water until tender and knead. Add warm pumpkin puree, sugar, seasonings to the dough, mix well, add flour and knead the dough, while adding softened butter or margarine. Put the dough in a warm place, cut the braids out of it, put them on a greased sheet, grease with an egg on top and bake in the oven with medium heat for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle the cooled braids with icing sugar. These pumpkin braids do not stale longer than ordinary baked goods.