Using stored pumpkins from overwinter?

[nao57]

If you've stored pumpkins over winter, and its spring again... how do you know if its still safe to eat the pumpkin after its been stored that long? We typically have them stored overwinter. Sometimes they last pretty good, but it was usually the intention to only store them there while the family could catch up on canning them. So I hadn't gotten a chance to figure out well, how to evaluate them and still use them once they'd aged a bit.

Hope someone has insight on this.


Thanks.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Most will rot by spring in my experiences. Cutting them open and looking at the insides may help determine if they are still okay, but personally we get rid of all squash and pumpkin by the following spring.

 

[Sally PB]

I don't grow pumpkins, but I have grown butternut squash. Icky spots look darker, and depressed, the skin is sub-flush. The dark spot usually turns grey/black after a while.

Before that happens, I see a change in the flesh when I cut it open. It will look drier and spongy.

When I start seeing the spongy flesh, I know I have to use up the squash before it goes bad. It seems that butternut goes bad from the outside in, most of the time. I scrape out and save the seeds, toasting them as you would pumpkin seeds. Or I scrape out the goop and the seeds and give it to the chickens.

 

[nao57]

I don't grow pumpkins, but I have grown butternut squash. Icky spots look darker, and depressed, the skin is sub-flush. The dark spot usually turns grey/black after a while.

Before that happens, I see a change in the flesh when I cut it open. It will look drier and spongy.

When I start seeing the spongy flesh, I know I have to use up the squash before it goes bad. It seems that butternut goes bad from the outside in, most of the time. I scrape out and save the seeds, toasting them as you would pumpkin seeds. Or I scrape out the goop and the seeds and give it to the chickens.

Thank you.