Pumpkin is a very tasty and healthy product, but if you buy a fruit that is too large, you can face the problem: how to eat it all at once or how to save it? Intact fruits are well stored in the pantry, and what to do with half or a quarter?
How to store the cut fruit so that it does not lose its taste, we will tell in this article.
Terms and conditions of storage of pumpkin
Raw pumpkin with damaged skins (including sliced) is not stored at room temperature. Just a couple of days, and the pulp begins to rot, becomes covered with mold, sometimes small flies start to appear in it.
Did you know? Pumpkin is a well-known symbol of Halloween. They make it a little scary, but a fun lantern - the so-called Jack lamp. And before such a lamp was cut out from a swede, and it looked just terrifying, resembling a mummified human head.
So that the fruit does not disappear, you should either hide it in the cold (refrigerator, freezer), or dry (by removing water from the pulp, you can significantly extend the shelf life). 
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How to keep a pumpkin in the fridge
The easiest, but short-lived way - to hide in the refrigerator. To do this, the fruit must be thoroughly cleaned: remove the seeds and the core, cut off the skin. Next - cut into pieces and pack into a bag or container. Do not store in clear. The best option would be vacuum packaging.
The temperature should be set in the range of 3-4 ° C.
For a short time (a couple of days) you can leave a vegetable on the balcony. In this case, the temperature and humidity there should be low and constant, without sharp fluctuations. It is also worth picking up a shaded place, without direct sunlight.
How much can a pumpkin be stored in the fridge
The flesh can be kept fresh for about ten days. Under certain conditions, up to twenty. 
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How to extend the time
When the peel is already damaged, it should be cut off completely - so the fruit will be stored longer. If you wrap the lobules in a tight package, so that the skin does not come in contact with the pulp on the outside, then you can not remove the top layer.
If there are no devices for vacuum packaging, there are two ways to replace it:
- Food film. Carefully roll up the pieces and store together with other products, it will protect against odors. The term is two weeks.
- Foil. The method is identical, but the foil should be periodically changed. The term of such storage is about a month.
Important! If you put the pulp in the fridge for just a couple of days, then you can do without the packaging. However, in this case, so that the peeled pieces are not weathered and dried, they should be smeared with sunflower oil.
How to keep a pumpkin in the freezer
For long-term storage, for example, if you want to make supplies for the winter, the cooling chamber is indispensable. In it, the product will retain all its beneficial properties and flavors. The size of the pieces into which the product is cut for storage is determined on the basis of what dishes you will cook.
Cutting a pumpkin after defrosting is not recommended. In the freezer, the flesh without problems and loss of quality can last half a year, and sometimes even longer. If the temperature is very low (from -18 ° C), then it can be stored for a year.
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Raw
This method of storage is straightforward: peel, remove the core and seeds, cut into cubes and arrange into packages. Putting the whole pumpkin in one container is impractical, since you can’t freeze it again and you have to cook everything that is thawed.
There is a nuance - when the product is frozen, the product expands, so a reserve of space should be left in the tank, vessel or bag so that the container does not burst. Or, initially freeze the pieces on a cutting board, and only then place them in a bag. If at the same time arrange them so that the pieces are not in contact, then in the package when frozen, they do not stick together.
Blanched
Store the vegetable pieces in containers, but pre-treated as follows:
- put pieces of pulp in a colander;
- immerse for three minutes in boiling water;
- after - in the cold, also for three minutes;
- cool and dry on an absorbent surface (for example, on napkins or a towel).
Important! The skin of the pumpkin is very dense, it is easy to cut when cleaning. To avoid this, it is worth taking a special knife for vegetables, or first cut the vegetable into four parts (lobules) and clean them. The core is most convenient to take out a round spoon.
Frayed
Rubbed pumpkin takes up less space. Such storage is suitable for freezing blanks, for example, fillings for future baking. To do this, chopped pieces of tinder on a coarse grater.
The method of storage is no different from the usual freezing of raw pulp. As a container, you can use special forms for ice, plastic cups covered with foil, special food containers.
If there is nothing but a bag, then to shape it, you can first put it in a container, put the product and freeze it before putting it in the freezer.
Video: how to freeze a pumpkin
Baked
For baking, the whole pumpkin should be cleaned inside (we do not remove the skin), cut into large slices and put on the baking sheet skinned down. Bake an hour at t ° 200 C.
It is possible to store as pieces, having cut off a skin, and in the form of mashed potatoes. For the second option, after baking, the pulp is ground in a blender to a uniform consistency and packaged in the same way as ground.
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How to dry and save the pumpkin
Sometimes freezing is not available, in which case the product can be dried. This requires a little more effort, but the pumpkin will be stored longer - about a year.
The main thing - to choose the right place: dry, dark, ventilated, away from spices and other sources of strong odor. A lot of space is not needed, as the pieces, drying out, significantly lose volume. Store dried pumpkin can be in banks, canvas bags, cardboard boxes.
Video: how to dry a pumpkin
In the sun
The longest way, suitable only for hot sunny weather. Carefully cleaned and cut into very small pieces or straws, the pulp should be spread out on a horizontal surface and exposed to the sun for two days, during which the pieces should be turned over periodically. It is better that they do not touch each other.
You should also cover the product with gauze on top as protection against flies. After two days in the sun, you need four more days to dry in the shade. After that, pour the product into fabric bags.
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In the oven
Pre-pumpkin is peeled from the skin and viscera and cut into thin (about a centimeter) slices. They should be immersed in boiling water for a couple of seconds, removed and dried in a colander or strainer to drain the water. After that, the pieces are laid out on a baking sheet and dried in the oven at t ° 60 C.
In the electric dryer
In an electric dryer, it is good to process pumpkin chips. For this, the cleaned pulp rubs on a coarse grater or is ground in a combine. Laid on the trays and dried at t ° 55 C for about 24 hours. The resulting product is best stored in sealed jars.
Video: pumpkin drying in an electric dryer
Did you know? The biggest pumpkin was brought into Guinness Book of Records 2016, she weighed 1190.5 kilograms.Keeping a pumpkin is simple. Dry or freeze the flesh, and you will have the opportunity to cook a pumpkin dish at any time of the year.
How best to store pumpkin: reviews
I tried to cut the pumpkin into cubes and freeze. It did not work out, because we periodically turned off the light and the pumpkin could not save, flowed, and so the mother-in-law keeps frozen, normally. Only except for soups, until porridge, nothing else to cook. I love fresh pumpkin !!! Living
