How to Make Pumpkin Puree

There was a shortage of pumpkin last year which results in a shortage of canned pumpkin early this fall.  I’m a little late on this post as the stores are stocked again, but I wanted to give this a try nonetheless.
You want to use pie pumpkins to make puree.  The pumpkins grown for jack-o-lanterns can be stringy and not as sweet.  I found these sugar pie pumpkins at The Green Grocer in the North Market.
1. De-stem and cut the pumpkins in half from stem to bottom.
 
2. Scoop out the stringy parts and the seeds.
 
3. Place open side face down in a roasting pan.
4. Add  2c. of water.
5. Bake at 375 for 1 hr and 15 minutes or until flesh is soft.
 
6. Scoop out flesh, remove skin and puree in a food processor or smash with a fork.
7. Freeze in freezer bags or containers.

Pumpkin Puree Scoop

Soooooo…the jury is still out on whether I would do this again or not.  I definitely need to see how it tastes when I use the puree to cook with.  I need to do some pumpkin research too.  Although the pumpkins weren’t labeled in the grocery, it seems as though I had two different varieties.  Notice how one roasted up with a hard shell in tact and the other skin shredded when I scooped out the flesh.  It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the purees were slightly different in color and one was stringier than the other.  These two pumpkins yielded about 2.5 to 3 cups of puree. 
Whoops.  I just noticed too that the smaller amount actually came from the smaller pumpkin that had the shell left.  The smaller pumpkin puree color and smell seemed more like what comes out of the can.  The larger pile came from the larger pumpkin with the shredded skins and was stringier and lighter in color.

Right now, I’m kind of thinking that canned pumpkin will do.