We've got 3 massive ones on the allotment.
So lots of pumpkin to eat then.
Pumpkin curry, pumpkin fritters, pumpkin pie (and then give the rest away, you'll be sick of pumpkin)
Supermarket pumpkins sold as carving pumpkins
- Thread starter crustychick
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Pumpkin curry, pumpkin fritters, pumpkin pie (and then give the rest away, you'll be sick of pumpkin)
mr steev
magic thought wizard
Noooo, roasted swede is nice, and mashed with carrot, butter and loads of black pepper is lovely
I do prefer swedes to the white turnips though.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
The tradition is long established south of the border as well!
Unlike the pumpkin, which was largely introduced in response to increased consumer spending in recent years.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
About 2000, give or take a year or two, when the supermarkets started to really take notice of Halloween as a marketing opportunity. They were very rare before that.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Rubbish. I had a carved pumpkin when I was about 8 and possibly earlier, which is about (taps fingers and looks away) 20 years and a bit more. I know I'm a multicultural type, but we even had them in a pretty white school.
Halloween has grown massively over here to be fair, particularly in recent years, but pumpkins were well known - even through things like US drama and Garbage Pail stickers.
Halloween has grown massively over here to be fair, particularly in recent years, but pumpkins were well known - even through things like US drama and Garbage Pail stickers.
No, you lot are in Mangelwurzel or Beet territory. Yokels!
Yer what? Plantains, breadfruit and butternut squash surely darling?
Turnips were the joke vegetable carried by Baldrick. I honestly didn't think anyone still chose to eat them
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
Swedes are far, far nicer than the crap pumpkins sold for carving.
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
I've never heard of using anything other than pumpkins for Halloween carving purposes. How do you hollow out a swede effectively?!
For the record, I'm 26 and grew up near Leicester.
For the record, I'm 26 and grew up near Leicester.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
snadge
metal alchemist
It also used to be turnips or large swedes in the North of England as well, eat the swede that came out, all the fun used to be carving the middle out.
pumpkin is a non veg, they would have been on the veg scrap heap if it wasn't for halloween, they are foul.
Just a shallow marketing exersise by the supermarkets, buy this and make a lantern, you wouldn't eat the muck but get charged a premium for something that nobody grows for food.
pumpkin is a non veg, they would have been on the veg scrap heap if it wasn't for halloween, they are foul.
Just a shallow marketing exersise by the supermarkets, buy this and make a lantern, you wouldn't eat the muck but get charged a premium for something that nobody grows for food.
You what? You know how many million people regularly eat pumpkin as one of their favoured foodstuffs? Have a pumpkin curry and roti - pretty much the only meal that ever used to be served on BWIA - and tell me that it's not much loved. Pumpkin soup and fritters ain't half bad too, particularly if they're from decent pumpkins as opposed to those tasteless specimens rushed to supermarkets for Halloween
I'd wager that vastly more pumpkins are consumed than pumpkins or swedes. Swede's the kind of ingredient they sneak into Ginsters pasties through virtue of cheapness - making the things taste even more manking.
I'd wager that vastly more pumpkins are consumed than pumpkins or swedes. Swede's the kind of ingredient they sneak into Ginsters pasties through virtue of cheapness - making the things taste even more manking.
scifisam
deleted
We also had pumpkins for Halloween when I was a kid in Essex - never carved swedes or anything else. However, we did also eat swede and turnip occasionally. Odd to have never heard of them. There was never any other sort of squash in the supermarket, except the kind you drink.
Maybe I'll see if I can find a nice big swede and carve that as well as a pumpkin. My arms need a bit of exercise.
Maybe I'll see if I can find a nice big swede and carve that as well as a pumpkin. My arms need a bit of exercise.
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
Worryingly, I'm going to have to agree with tarannau again. There are few things finer than a decent bit o' pumpkin from a roti vendor, or from a Caribbean takeaway, or indeed from an Indian.
The pumpkin they do at Trinishack in Herne Hill is fucking beautiful
Swede can be really nice though. My Mrs always makes mashed swede with a roast and it's lovely.
spring-peeper
Well-Known Member
Chisels, old spoons & a sharp knife always worked very well for me.
Pumpkins are a lot easy to clean out. Ya put down newspaper, cut the top off and let the kids at it!!!!
I've always found the cutting the sweed was the hardest part of preparing a dinner - I can't imagine trying to scoop out the insides and leaving the outside intact.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Making a neep lantern is a very good lesson for any kid IMO. Learned all sorts, from managing sharp things to perseverience!
when I lived in peterhead (1991 - 1997) all my mates used pumpkins for halloween. sorry
fredfelt
Mostly unknown member
I've followed the same soup recepie with both a veg box pumpkin and a supermarket pumpkin.
Veg box pumpkin soup was yummy
Supermarket pumpkin was tasteless and a waste of time
crustychick
doo-woop-de-doo
snap, except in teh 80's....
maybe if I roast the supermarket pumpkin first, along with some garlic, that will help
spring-peeper
Well-Known Member
Making a neep lantern is a very good lesson for any kid IMO. Learned all sorts, from managing sharp things to perseverience!
omg!!!! What age do your kids start helping?
Here, getting your pumpkins ready is like a tradition. The kids each pick a latern, we take them home, I cut the tops off and the kids start emptying out the insides of the pumpkins. Even the baby can participate. It's great fun and everyone gets covered in goo. They also get involved with scooping out the goo at school and most social outings. Once the goop is out, you have perfect walls!!!
The only time a knife is used is to open the pumpkin and to carve it. They are not allowed to do the actual carving of the face until they are much, much older. They can draw the face onto it, but an adult cuts it.
I am so, so, SO glad my kids are older and we don't have to do the pumpkin thing any more. )))pumpkins(((
Swede just sound dangerous and time consuming.
spring-peeper
Well-Known Member
Yes, I agree with you - it's very much one of those things from over here and it's big over here. So much so, that it had never occured to me to use anything else but pumpkins.
Does anyone have any pictures of the swedes that you have carved? I really love to see some of them.
spring-peeper
Well-Known Member
I know, it was my mistake and I have since corrected it. Strange, I've always spelt it that way and it always looked wrong. Won't be making that mistake again.
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
I never knew that a swede was called a rutabagga elsewhere. What a wonderful word
Wikipedia makes mention of the British (and Irish, apparently) habit of using swedes or turnips.
http://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Jack_o'lantern
When I was a child, the making of the lanterns was a huge part of the seasonal events, and took ages.
Just to complicate matters, the Scots refer to swedes as "neeps", short for turnip, whereas the rest of the UK refer to them as swede, and believe that turnips are the smaller, white, root vegetable, mostly used in stews.
Mashed swede is gorgeously yummy, and relatively common, including in pub sunday lunches, I find.
Wikipedia makes mention of the British (and Irish, apparently) habit of using swedes or turnips.
http://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Jack_o'lantern
When I was a child, the making of the lanterns was a huge part of the seasonal events, and took ages.
Just to complicate matters, the Scots refer to swedes as "neeps", short for turnip, whereas the rest of the UK refer to them as swede, and believe that turnips are the smaller, white, root vegetable, mostly used in stews.
Mashed swede is gorgeously yummy, and relatively common, including in pub sunday lunches, I find.
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