Pumpkin puree at home question

So last week, I roasted pumpkins and pureed them for a soup, which worked out just fine. I also froze some leftover puree and used for another soup later in the week. I'm hoping to roast/puree/freeze some more pumpkins so that I always have some around for soups, breads, muffins etc. My question - the puree by itself worked find for soup, but since it was releasing some liquid, should I strain it if I'm going to use it for baking? Thank you all for your wisdom on pumpkin matters.

D

Salvadore,

Taste the juice and you will have your answer. I will guess that the juice has very little flavor and the puree has great flavor, especially if you used heirloom pumpkins like Fairytale.

I most recipes that call for pumpkin puree there are problems with excess liquid. That draining will help.

FYI, if you juice a fresh pumpkin, the puree has almost no flavor and the juice is flavorful. You can take the juice and reduce it for use in custards. There is nothing more surprising than a silken pumpkin creme brulee made with heavily reduced pumpkin juice.

Tim

If you're talking about using it for pies and that sort of thing, I've always used a muslin cheesecloth (or a clean tee-shirt in a pinch) to squeeze every last bit of moisture possible out of it. Otherwise, the puree is too watery to have your pie set properly.

Binko wrote:If you're talking about using it for pies and that sort of thing, I've always used a muslin cheesecloth (or a clean tee-shirt in a pinch) to squeeze every last bit of moisture possible out of it. Otherwise, the puree is too watery to have your pie set properly.

Ditto. Strain it through a cheesecloth.

I agree, but if you don't have cheesecloth, doubled or tripled paper towels (depending on thickness) work nicely too.

That's what I thought. Thanks all for confirming.