How to cut pumkins and squashes? I am scared.

[Seductive Arts]

I avoid these food items, since being raw I can't bake them. I never liked cutting these things with a knife, especially butternut squashes, because I feel I will have a terrible knife accident. I would just put them in the oven so the outer shell would get soft when cooked so cutting will be easier.


How do you guys cut these extremely hard things raw without hurting yourselves???!!!
:confused:

[DebB]

You can always ask the produce folks at the store - they're happy to cut them for you. *Ü*

[Mary Kay]

I actually use an ax when the pumpkin or squash has been seasoned.

"Seasoning" means that when you harvest it, it's put into a dry warm spot for a couple days, then the shell becomes very hard. then it's stored in a cool, dark, dry place. When I first harvest mine, if they're not naturally seasoned by the sun etc, I'll be able to peel them with a potato peeler.

Once seasoned though, this is impossible.

Seasoning them makes them last for months--often into early spring.

But if you cut them with an ax, for a butternut squash, for example, you could cut them into discs on the neck, then with a cleaver, you can cut -er, wack - the skin off.

Hope this makes sense.

Mary Kay

[Seductive Arts]

Yeah, I use a butcher knife that is curved to try to hack open a young coconut and that seems scary to me just like the thought of doing this to a pumpkin.

I see on youtube that a lot of people who crack open foods with a hard shell use something like an ax or a machete knife instead of a kitchen knife.

A knife like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJyVT6hJ5xY

[T-Bird]

Wow seductive arts- I know where you live!!!

I once cut myself very badly trying to open a pumpkin - it was huge.

Recently - I took a carpenters saw to a small pie pumpkin, this "patented" blade slices through 2x2s but this pumpkin wasn't giving up and it was hard to hold - I feared for my digits!

What I eventually did was just bite the bullet and get my knife in there a little, then I raised the knife up with the pumpkin stuck on and slammed it onto the counter like it was an ax....

[DawnD]

Those things are hard. I have a pie pumpkin on the table now with a few hack marks in where I tried to break into it. Its now a decoration for fall. Maybe I will try again as I want to make a raw pumpkin pie.

New tools for raw lifestyle: KITCHEN AX AND KITCHEN MACHETE

oops! I cracked myself up...

[Raw Angel Mom]

I cut them in lair not too large then use the carrot pillar, it works like a charm.

Enjoy your pumpkin!

[Seductive Arts]

Those things are hard. I have a pie pumpkin on the table now with a few hack marks in where I tried to break into it. Its now a decoration for fall. Maybe I will try again as I want to make a raw pumpkin pie.

New tools for raw lifestyle: KITCHEN AX AND KITCHEN MACHETE

oops! I cracked myself up...

I just bought a machete online.

[DebB]

New tools for raw lifestyle: KITCHEN AX AND KITCHEN MACHETE

oops! I cracked myself up...

Now that's funny!! *Ü*

[Seductive Arts]

I bought my machete from this website. They don't have axes like cutting down lumber, but they do have tomahawks. The site isn't expensive, if you want a sturdy knife for cutting up hard shell fruits and vegetables.

JBC Knives and Swords (http://jbcknivesandswords.com/Machete-C45832.aspx?sid=4539)

You can get a machete for $7 to $20 dollars, not including shipping. But tomahawks start at $20.