BRANDON, Miss.- Trick-or-treating, hay rides, haunted houses and carving pumpkins, two weeks from now kids will be filling the streets in their costumes and bags of candy, but when is a good time to carve your pumpkin to put on display and how can you make it last?
News Mississippi visited Nichols-Boyd Pumpkin Patch in Brandon to talk to a pumpkin expert there. AG Nichols said, “Your pumpkin is going to last easily a week. Once you cut into your pumpkin it begins the deterioration process, so the longer you can delay carving the pumpkin the better likelihood you’ll have making it last.”
But there are some other ways to make your pumpkin last longer, even after you’ve carved into it. First, you should clean your pumpkin to remove all of the bacteria before cutting into it. The bacteria will speed up the deterioration process if not removed. Using 1/4 cup of bleach and water to make a solution to help get rid of the bacteria on your pumpkin. Once you’ve carved your pumpkin, use petroleum jelly to seal the edges to help block out bacteria.
“We encourage people to use the stickers and paint the faces and then maybe carve it closer to Halloween time if they want to display their pumpkins. They will also want to keep the pumpkin in a cool, shaded area because sun will deteriorate a pumpkin faster,” Nichols said.
Nichols said you can see if a pumpkin is fresh or not by the color of its stem. “The greener the stem, the fresher the pumpkin.”
For hay rides, corn mazes, pumpkin patches and more visit: http://www.nicholsenterprisesllc.com/
Have fun carving your pumpkins and tweet @NewsMsChelsea or email chelsea@newsms.fm your pumpkin carving pictures so we can put them on display!
