How to store cut (peeled) pumpkin at home in an apartment, in the refrigerator

What decorative varieties and breeds exist?

The following types of pumpkins are used as decoration:

Lagenaria. It has a “bottle” shape and can be used to make a bottle, ladle, vase and more. It is green in color but turns yellow-brown when dried.
Cucurbita. Not a large pumpkin with bright colors (red, orange, golden). After a couple of months of drying, the colors fade. Lanterns and flower pots are made from these fruits.

There are also a variety of decorative varieties of pumpkins, some of the most popular are:

Tangerine. Small pumpkins with smooth skin and not very prominent ribs.
Turban-shaped. The fruit looks as if it consists of several parts. This variety of pumpkin is large and has a bizarre appearance; the upper part often looks like a mushroom cap.
Sweet Dumpling. Large vegetable with ribs. The color alternates with white, yellow, green stripes and white spots.
Orange. Spherical or flattened small fruits of bright color.
Little Boo. Small white pumpkins that look like huge garlic.

Features of pumpkin and harvesting rules

Despite the fact that in modern art pumpkin is not used as often as a material for creating crafts, in everyday life its peel has been used for many centuries to make dishes. According to knowledgeable people, drinks in such containers do not spoil longer and retain their temperature. And if you infuse water in them, it will help treat diabetes.

Almost any variety of pumpkin can be used to create decorative items, but these two show themselves to be the best:

Cucurbita. The fruits are small and bright. They don’t even need to be processed in any way, just dry them properly. True, this material has one significant drawback - its bright shades begin to fade after some time, which affects the quality of the decor.

Advice: You should not try to speed up the drying process of the product, this will not lead to anything good. So-called express approaches lead to an unevenly dried component, which can fall apart at any time and even become moldy after a few hours.

Lagenaria. The unique shape of the product allows you to create the most unusual products from it, even at home. Despite the fact that the bark of the vegetable also changes its color over time, it still remains very pleasant - light brown or yellow-golden.

It’s not enough to dry the pumpkin for crafts; first you need to properly assemble and prepare it. There are very few rules for harvesting, but they are all very important to obtain the desired result:

The stalks should dry out and turn brown. Only after this can the product be collected for making decor.
The stalk must be cut and not broken off. In this case, you need to leave at least 6-10 cm of the plant part.
Only ideal products are used. Rotten, softened and spoiled pumpkins will have to be thrown away.
If frost is close, and the vegetable is a little unripe, it is still removed from the garden, otherwise the color of the product may deteriorate.

Large pumpkins are not suitable for decoration, because... they cannot be dried thoroughly and evenly. The smaller the workpiece, the easier it is to work with.

How to dry a pumpkin for decoration?

What tools and devices are used? Sometimes kitchen utensils are used to dry pumpkins as decoration. But in this case, there is a possibility that the vegetable will simply bake and not dry out and then spoil very quickly.

The following devices and temperature conditions can be used for drying:

Dry in the oven at 80 degrees. The vegetable is placed in the center of the oven and periodically turned clockwise.
In an air fryer, the drying temperature is approximately 70 degrees.
The pumpkin is dried in an electric dryer at 80 degrees.
Microwave drying is carried out at 600 Watt mode.

During the drying process in any of the devices, you need to turn the fruit from side to side so that it does not burn.

How to dry completely? A whole pumpkin can be dried entirely using two methods:

Using the devices listed above.
Natural drying in a well-ventilated area or in a garden bed will be very effective, but will take a very long time.

How to dry cut ones? Pieces can also be dried using these two methods. To do this, you need to prepare, cut the pumpkin into the necessary pieces and remove the fibers and seeds.

Adviсe

To get an excellent result the first time, you should follow some recommendations:

Do not use large specimens grown for food for creativity.
The pulp of the “cucurbita” variety dries 2 times faster than the pulp of “lagenaria”.
The lower the room temperature, the longer it will take to dry.
If the peel peels off, it is sanded with sandpaper.
When preparing the vegetable for Halloween, keep the flesh slightly moist. Therefore, vegetables begin to be prepared 1.5 months before the party.

Principles of natural vegetable drying

How to dry a pumpkin for crafts quickly? If you do not plan to store the decorative pumpkin product for a long time, you can use the express drying method. It includes the following actions:

Preparing the pumpkin in the usual way;
Cutting off the top. Make the cut even and use a large sharp knife for this;
Remove the pulp by scraping it out with a spoon so that nothing remains on the walls, otherwise the pumpkin will become moldy in a few days.
Wiping the inner surface of the vegetable with a cloth soaked in alcohol;
Stuffing vegetables with paper (preferably newspapers);
Next, you should place the pumpkin in a ventilated, dark place and constantly change the stuffing inside it as the paper gets wet.

How to dry a decorative pumpkin correctly and for a long time, but efficiently? Natural drying remains the best way. For this method, select fruits that are not large, whole, without dents, rotting or mold.

IMPORTANT: When cutting a pumpkin from a plant, be sure to leave a small tail. It will help the vegetable release moisture into the environment.

Preparing the fruit is the most common: wash in warm water, dry and treat with alcohol.

The natural drying process can last 6-18 months. It depends on the thickness of the skin, the amount of pulp, the size of the fruit and environmental conditions.

Rules for this type of pumpkin drying:

For drying, you need to take a spare number of pumpkins. There is a possibility that not all will dry out. Some spoil early in the process;
The fruits should not touch;
The drying room must be well ventilated;
It is important that there is no direct sunlight on the fruit;
You can place the pumpkin on oilcloth so that the moisture drips onto it, or even better - on wooden pallets with a large gap between the slats so that the pumpkin has a good supply of air;
Every day at the beginning of drying, you need to inspect the fruits for rot. Then the examination can be done once a week. All soft, spoiling pumpkins must be removed immediately, otherwise they will infect healthy ones.
If small areas of mold appear on the peel due to the moisture released, it can be removed and the area wiped with alcohol.

Recommendations for making temporary crafts

If you plan to make a craft from the product for Halloween or some kind of exhibition, you can use a special drying method. It will allow you to get an original product, the shelf life of which will be no more than 2-3 weeks.

The decorative pumpkin is washed and dried. After this, you need to cut off the top and completely remove the pulp. A custom spoon or a convenient construction scraper can help with this.
Now the internal and external surfaces of the product must be disinfected. At home, you should use alcohol or vodka for this. We wet a sponge in the chosen product and use it to blot the material.
We stuff the prepared fruit with newspapers and put it in a dry and warm place. A shelf on a sunny wall, the surface of a cabinet, even a window sill will do.
We change newspapers every 6-8 hours as they get wet. Drying time is 2-3 days.

It is worth considering that the product will dry much longer if the ambient temperature is below 22ºC. High humidity in the room can also be detrimental.

How to make a Halloween pumpkin and how to store it?

You can start preparing pumpkins for this holiday several months before. Choose varieties with not very hard skin, so that you can easily cut out scary faces on the vegetable. You can cook it using the natural drying method. Also, if you don’t have time, you can use a quick drying method by stuffing it with newspapers.

In order to extend the shelf life of Halloween pumpkins abroad, they treat products with special antiseptic solutions. In our regions, you can try spraying the inside of the pumpkin with a bleach solution to prevent the proliferation of microorganisms.

How to dry bottle gourd?

Bottle gourd is quite light, and when dried it becomes almost weightless. This species does not allow moisture to pass through itself well. The preparation of the fruit and the drying process are normal. Some nuances of drying this type of pumpkin:

A natural drying method is used for this species and it is recommended to do it outside.
The oven and other appliances are not used to ensure that the fruit retains its shape and dries evenly.
This pumpkin is dried in a hanging state or on a wire rack.
For the first few weeks, keep the pumpkin in a bright place, but without direct sunlight, when the pumpkin hardens, it is moved to a dark room and dried until it is ready.

How to determine readiness?

Pumpkin readiness is determined by the following indicators:

By color. When dried, the vegetable should become dull; Lagenaria usually turns yellowish-brown.
The vegetable loses its weight.
If you shake the pumpkin, it makes a dull sound of seeds jumping inside it.

Conditions and shelf life of dried pumpkin for decoration

Finished dried fruits can be stored for a very long time. To do this, you must comply with the following conditions:

The room temperature should be 12-28 degrees without sudden changes.
Avoid dampness and contact with moisture.
Direct sunlight should not fall on the decorative product.
Immediately after processing the pumpkin (for example, carving), it is recommended to varnish its surface to extend its shelf life.

To make a dried pumpkin preparation for the winter or to dry a pumpkin for decoration, you need to follow special rules. Drying methods differ from each other, as they serve different purposes, and pumpkin varieties differ in their properties depending on their purpose.

Storage

We have already talked about how to store pumpkin at home and how to store it in the cellar for consumption in our articles.

How to preserve a decorative pumpkin? If you want to use pumpkin not for the purpose of eating it, but for decorating the room, then you need to know a few very important rules.

Firstly, do not leave the pumpkin in a damp and humid room and, if possible, reduce contact with moisture to zero .

The pumpkin must be kept in a place where the temperature does not exceed 30 degrees and does not fall below ten.

How to store pumpkin crafts? It is necessary to cover them on top with some kind of coating in order to prevent spoilage of the vegetable.

For example, it could be a colorless furniture varnish or nail polish . In any case, careful protection of the vegetable from all kinds of cracking and moisture is necessary.

How to store decorative pumpkin? Pumpkin must be stored in a dark and dry place . You cannot keep dried vegetables outside in both cold and warm seasons. Also, do not forget that such vegetables react very sensitively to temperature changes , so do not allow this to happen.

Excess moisture promotes mold or rot . by rodents or insects is also common . Take a closer look at this phenomenon.

Product preparation

Before drying the pumpkin, it must be prepared for drying. But it is worth keeping in mind that not all varieties of vegetables are used for crafts and decoration. It is necessary to use the Lagenaria or Cucurbita variety. They are distinguished by bright orange, red, yellow colors, and can be used to make a decorative vase, bottle, pot or lantern.

Important! For drying, you need to choose vegetables with a stalk. Without it, drying will not proceed correctly: moisture should evaporate naturally.

Wash the selected vegetables with soapy water and put them in a dark place where the temperature is no more than +30 0 C or less.
Once dry, wipe with alcohol and put away again. After 7-14 days, the shell should become hard, which means that you can proceed to the main drying. Important! For drying, you need to choose vegetables with a stalk. Without it, drying will not proceed correctly: moisture should evaporate naturally.