We are almost half way there – blogging merrily along the Vegan MoFo III road.

I love my local Farmers’ Market.

Now that I’ve gotten that amorous declaration out of the way, allow me to share this: It makes me exceedingly sad that my local market will be closing up shop at the end of this month, marking the end of an especially colourful and bountiful season. But before that sad day comes, I’ll be taking full advantage of what the October market has to offer.

And my favourite October market find is pumpkin. Pumpkin is so versatile. You can use it in sweet and savoury dishes alike. Soups. Baked goods of all sorts.

But those elusive pumpkins show up about a month before Halloween and then, suddenly, they’re all gone.

There is a way we can extend the pumpkin bounty, friends: Pumpkin puree. And if you’ve never pureed your own pumpkin before, you’re in for a treat – it’s easy.

So buy up those pumpkins while you can, roast ‘em, and puree away – then freeze it all, stored in little ziploc bags, and use it for months to come. Don’t get me wrong – in a pinch, some nice organic canned puree will do. When you’re making that pumpkin pie during the holidays however, you just can’t beat fresh puree.

Trust me on this. It’s easy. It’s awesome.

There is an absolutely fabulous step by step tutorial all about pureeing your own pumpkin at Ree Drummond’s super site, The Pioneer Woman, complete with humorous anecdotes and lovely photos. My advice is to take Ree’s sage advice regarding allowing your puree to drain before using or freezing it if you suspect it to be on the wet side – I find, more often than not, that it is. Allowing the pumpkin to drain over a cheesecloth or sieve in the fridge overnight (or even a full day) will improve the texture and intensify the flavour.

Ditto regarding Ree’s advice about freezing the puree in 1-cup bags. That’s just clever.

I’ve heard, and Ree concurs, that smaller pumpkins generally yield more intense flavour. The pumpkins I used this time around were about 5 to 6-inches in diameter, which I’d classify as mediium. I have pureed bigger ones, like last year’s Halloween pumpkin, with fine results. I have yet to try those teeny ones from the supermarket (which look to be under 4-inches in diameter), and who knows, maybe those little ones would knock my socks off.

Now snap those pumpkins up.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about the pumpkin pie I made with the first puree of the season.