I love all things Halloween, whether it’s spooky Halloween decorations or grinning jack-o-lanterns. However, what I don’t love is hollowing out the inside of a pumpkin, until I discovered a genius hack for quickly carving pumpkins.
While there are many lovely pumpkin carving ideas out there, I love to dot pumpkin vases around my house and light up my windows with jack-o-lanterns on October 31st. If, like me, you find it a painfully laborious experience trying to dig out the stringy pumpkin inside with a spoon, I promise this carving hack will be a game-changer.
(Image credit: Future/Dan Duchars)
The hack involves using an electric handheld whisk to clean out the inside of the pumpkin with minimal effort and fuss. I discovered the hack last Halloween and used it to whip up a mix of pumpkin vases and jack-o-lanterns in record time, as it only takes minutes to do.
The hack is simple enough. You start by cutting off the top of the pumpkin as you usually do before carving. Once you have removed the lid, move the knife to a safe place in the kitchen and prepare the whisk. I use my trusty Salter hand blender (opens in a new tab) available on Amazon for £21.99.
I would recommend placing your pumpkin on a cutting board on a kitchen counter, this will protect the surface and give you more control over the whisk. Then place the whisk inside the pumpkin and turn it to the lowest speed.
(Image credit: Future)
To avoid being sprayed with pumpkin seeds, angle the beater slightly and keep the speed low. The aim is to use the whisk to loosen all the seeds and stringy bits from the side so they are easy to scoop out.
Go up and down all the pages to make sure you’ve reached every last bit. To avoid overloading the beater I would do this in ten second bursts, in total it should take about a minute.
(Image credit: Future)
Once you have removed the whisk, you should be able to easily scoop out all the seeds and pumpkin flesh with a dessert spoon. You should have a perfectly hollowed pumpkin in under 5 minutes (even 2 minutes once you become a pro).
All that’s left is to decide on your pumpkin design or if you want to keep things simple with a pumpkin vase. It speeds up the process so much that I found it easier to make a full pumpkin display without relying on buying extra decorations.
Never fear hollowing out a pumpkin again.
