Every fall, two seemingly contradictory things happen. Grocery stores fill up with pumpkins — not just the jack-o'-lantern kind, but the kind labeled as sugar or pie pumpkins — while at the same time, some online home cooks begin loudly proclaiming that you should never, ever make homemade pumpkin purée since the canned kind is sooo much better. Is that true? No, of course it isn't.
Canned is more convenient, yes, but there's just something so satisfying about DIY pumpkin purée. What's more, you can first use the pumpkin for decorative purposes (draw a face on it with a Sharpie) and cook it once the holiday is over. Start by chopping the pumpkin in half, then scoop out the guts.
( before toasting them as a tasty lagniappe.) Once it's not too hot to handle, pull off the peel (this is why it doesn't matter if you draw on it) and purée the cooked flesh in a food processor or blender. If you'll be using it for baking as opposed to soup-making, you should also strain it to remove any excess moisture.
The biggest complaint canned pumpkin proponents seem to have about homemade purée is that it can be watery, but this is nothing that a colander can't fix. It's also not exclusive to fresh pumpkin, since some brands of the canned stuff are pretty watery, too. Can you cook a jack-o'-lantern? If you're buying a pumpkin with the express purpose of puréeing it for cooking purposes, then a sugar pumpkin is the way to go.
These smaller pumpkins are easier to work with, plus the.