I’ve been seeing a lot of pumpkin juice recipes floating around the Internet recently, and got intrigued. I’ve never juiced pumpkin before and the other night I harvested a little pumpkin from our garden, around 6 inch diameter, and thought I’d give it a try.
The skin of the pumpkin is very hard and dry, and I couldn’t imagine it would be a good idea pushing that through my trusty Omega juicer. No need to test that 10-year warranty by trying to juice something that has the consistency of wood. So I ended up slicing it into wedges, and then cutting along the inside of the skin to separate the meat. It was quite difficult, but my anticipation of a delicious glass of pumpkin juice helped to get the job done.
But the juicing part was the real let down. My little pumpkin yielded about a tablespoon of juice, leaving behind a large amount of foam and fibrous waste. Not a cup, not even a quarter cup, a tablespoon.
Well, I thought maybe fresh pumpkin juice is especially tasty! Barley grass and wheat grass don’t yield a whole lot of juice either, but they are super healthy and a little goes a long way. Well, disappointment number three: my tablespoon of pumpkin juice tasted incredibly bland. Not bad, just bland and boring.
So long story short: don’t bother making pumpkin juice from raw pumpkin. You’ll be much better off cooking that pumkin and using it in one of your many delicious pumpkin recipes, like Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Thai Pumpkin Soup, or Pumpkin Bread.
I ended up saving my juicing session by falling back on my old trusty staples celery, carrots, and cucumbers. A few grapes and a tray of barley grass turned this juice into a delicious and super-nutritious veggie juice.
If you have a different experience with juicing pumpkin please share it here! I’d love to know. Maybe I missed an essential step when it comes to juicing pumpkin, and I’d be happy to try again. We have more pumpkins in the garden than we know what to do with.
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