How To Carve A Jack O' Lantern: Step By Step Instructions (plus A Recipe For Candied Pumpkin)

One of the main attributes of Halloween is a pumpkin lamp with a scary or funny grimace.

One of the main attributes of Halloween is a pumpkin lamp with a scary or funny grimace. By the way, according to Irish legend, drunkard Jack wandered around the world with a piece of smoldering coal in an empty turnip: the cunning blacksmith deceived the Devil, and when he died, he was not accepted into either heaven or hell. In the States, turnips were replaced with pumpkins and off we go.

Today, jack-o'-lanterns are lit outside the house to scare away evil spirits, and it's also beautiful. In the November darkness, a living candle in a bright pumpkin looks great.

It is better to cut rounded pumpkins, first cut off the "cap", then you need to scrape the pulp with seeds, and only then cut out the face. A tea candle or battery-powered light bulbs are inserted into the pumpkin.

We tell in detail and show how to carve a pumpkin. You will need a sharp small knife, a pumpkin, a large spoon. It is better to take a high pumpkin so that the flame does not burn the top.

 

Rinse the pumpkin, if necessary, and pat dry with paper towels. First of all, draw lines with a ballpoint pen - a cut of the cap, mouth, nose, eyes, along which you will cut. If you are not sure of your abilities as an artist, print a stencil from the Internet.

You can draw a cut of the cap even or jagged.

 

We begin to cut the pumpkin from the top-hat. Work carefully, each time piercing with a knife along the drawn line. Carefully remove the cap, cut off the flesh inside, leaving the shape, set aside.

 

Arm yourself with a spoon and select the soft part of the pumpkin with the seeds. Seeds can be washed and dried. Then scrape out the remaining pulp, if necessary, rinse the pumpkin and dry thoroughly.

Now cut out the eyes and mouth (nose).

The pumpkin house looks amazing. To do this, cut out four squares in the form of a window.

It remains only to put a garland with light bulbs or put a lit candle inside. Ready!

 

Prepare candied fruits from pumpkin pulp.

Cooking candied fruit is simple, however, it takes a lot of time. In short, the process looks like this: cut the pulp of the pumpkin into squares, cook three times in syrup for 5 minutes, each time insisting for 3 hours. Then dry in the oven or electric dryer.

To prepare candied fruits you will need:

500 g pumpkin pulp, half a lemon or orange, cinnamon stick, 250 g sugar, 3 tbsp. l. corn starch.

Cut pumpkin pulp without peel and seeds into small identical cubes. Put the cubes in a saucepan and sprinkle with sugar. Leave for an hour and a half for the juice to stand out.

 

Cut lemon or orange into slices, add to the pan. Send a cinnamon stick there. Put the pan on the fire, stir. Bring to a boil and cook for exactly 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave covered for 3 hours.

After that, boil again for 5 minutes and insist again for 3 hours. Repeat after three hours. In total, you need to boil the pumpkin 3 times.

 

After another 3 hours, drain the syrup, if any. Put the candied fruits on a baking sheet covered with parchment and dry in the oven at a temperature of 50 degrees for about an hour, keep the door ajar. Dry the candied fruits in the dryer for two hours.

 

Ready candied fruits will be with a crust. Sprinkle with starch and put in a glass container, wrapping it with material. Do not close the lid. Enjoy!

You will find proven recipes with step-by-step photos on our channel in Yandex.Zen. Come for tea!