These are the best Cork-grown pumpkins for pie-making and seasonal soups
They taste as fabulous as they look.
If you’re decorating with pumpkins this autumn and you plan on eating the leftovers, now is the time to plan a visit to Between the Briars, a small farm in Glanmire.
Farmer Taylor Nelsen has just begun the curing process on stacks of gorgeous looking gourds, and they’re as good on the inside as look on the outside. A seasonal crop, these extra-special squash will be available for pre-order and collection on October 16th, 2020.
Taylor and his team grow a variety of seasonal blooms, vegetables and foliages on their small plot using homemade nettle and seaweed tea for fertiliser. They never use pesticide and they make their own compost from plant trimmings so you know your Halloween pumpkin is completely free from nasties.
“The pumpkins are grown here without chemicals.” Taylor Nelsen told Yay Cork.
“The heirloom variety is Musquee de Provence. They start out dark green and change to an orange/bronze colour after they’ve been harvested. They are great for eating (apparently they’re a delicacy in France sliced thin and eaten raw like cheese) as well as for decorating or carving.”
Here are four delicious ideas for putting those Jack-o-lantern innards to good use:
- Pumpkin soup: Roast your peeled and chopped pumpkin with a sliced leek, fresh rosemary and thyme and tablespoon of olive oil, then blend it with a litre of chicken stock for a warming seasonal soup. Top with lots of grated parmesan cheese.
- Pumpkin hummus: Blitz a mug of cooked pumpkin to make a purée, then add a can of chickpeas (drain first), one tablespoon of olive oil, three roasted garlic cloves, a teaspoon of cumin and a pinch of cinnamon. Blend, season and scoop it up with tortilla chips.
- Pumpkin Chilli: Add in a heaping mug of puréed pumpkin when you add the canned tomatoes to your usual chilli recipe. Your kids will never know they’re getting an extra serving of veggies in the savoury sauce.
- Roasted pumpkin seeds: Mix one mug of pumpkin seeds with 1.5 tablespoons of melted butter. Spread on a baking tray, season with salt and roast until golden (about 35 minutes at 180C)
Between the Briars Musquee de Provence pumpkins will keep for up to three months in a cellar-like environment so you’ll have plenty of time to use them if you’re buying more than one to use as autumn decor.
Heirloom Pumpkins
These beauties will soon be available to preorder for autumnal decoration and or dining festivites.
We are now letting the pumpkins ‘cure’ – which means they will harden and change to their autumn bronze colour. they will then keep for up to 3 months pic.twitter.com/iTCHnQIH2c
— BetweentheBriars (@BetweenBriars) September 30, 2020
They vary from 5kg to 20kg in size and prices start at €7 for the small size, €10 for the medium, €15 for the large and €22 for the jumbo. You can pre-order online here for collection or delivery on October 16th.
