# Question about pumpkin in a recipe... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pumpkin-in-a-recipe/600502 "2011-10-23T02:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anise/32/21721_2.png) [@Anise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anise)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pumpkin-in-a-recipe/600502/1 "2011-10-23T02:31:34Z")
Hi all… I have a recipe that calls for a seven-pound pumpkin. The pumpkin was picked from my garden, and I don’t have a kitchen scale sitting around. :rolleyes: Does anyone have any idea how many cups of _cut-up_ pumpkin would equal a pound? A cup of cooked (squashed-down) pumpkin is one pound, but this pumpkin won’t be pureed/mashed in the way that it would be for pumpkin pie, just cut up. Nobody seems to have the answer for this one… but there are so many geniuses here… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pumpkin-in-a-recipe/600502/2 "2011-10-23T02:41:00Z")
Get on your bathroom scale with the pumpkin and again without. Subtract. That’s the weight of the pumpkin. I do not know how many cups one pumpkin cut up becomes, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gbro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Gbro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gbro)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pumpkin-in-a-recipe/600502/3 "2011-10-23T04:11:39Z")
What are you making with the pumpkin? ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pumpkin-in-a-recipe/600502/4 "2011-10-23T04:18:33Z")
I would get two smaller “sugar pie” pumpkins as they generally have better flavor and are less stringy than the larger pumpkins. The recipe calling for a 7-lb pumpkin is tough because density is an issue in pumpkin weight. This is strictly a WAG on my part, but I think you would get 5 cups of cut-up flesh from a 7-lb pumpkin. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pumpkin-in-a-recipe/600502/5 "2011-10-23T10:33:44Z")
Then you also run into production issues, here in CT it was a sodding wet summer, and all the damned pumpkins we have cooked so far have been watery and tasteless, to the point where we are just buying canned pumpkin now. [lazy, it is generally a different type of squash and sometimes squash mixed with sweet potato. I am too lazy to do it myself. Bleargh.:(] Hope the pumpkins you can get are better than our local ones. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pumpkin-in-a-recipe/600502/6 "2011-10-23T12:14:05Z")
Clearly a question to be posted in our food section, Cafe Society. Moved from GQ. **samclem** , Moderator ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pumpkin-in-a-recipe/600502/7 "2011-10-23T21:46:56Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Then you also run into production issues, here in CT it was a sodding wet summer, and all the damned pumpkins we have cooked so far have been watery and tasteless, to the point where we are just buying canned pumpkin now. [lazy, it is generally a different type of squash and sometimes squash mixed with sweet potato. I am too lazy to do it myself. Bleargh.:(] > > Hope the pumpkins you can get are better than our local ones. ☹ Sorry to hear it aruvqan. If you have to go for canned pumpkin, I recommend getting Farmer’s Market brand. It’s just pumpkin and it tastes like it.