Dried pumpkin at home without sugar. Dark chocolate with candied fruits and dried apricots

Pumpkin is a useful, valuable vegetable containing great amount vitamins and microelements. Pumpkin contains more iron than other vegetables. It also contains salts of potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, fiber and vegetable protein, vitamins of groups B, C, D, E, PP and a rather rare vitamin T. All these substances are able to provide daily requirement organism. This is especially important for those who are on a diet.

IN diet food undeniable, as this vegetable is useful low-calorie product, and its pulp for gastrointestinal tract considered light food. dried pumpkin- also a useful nutritious product.

Drying - drying, but with a preliminary separation of the juice, not to crunch. A crust seizes on top of the pumpkin, inside the vegetable remains soft. To do this, use any variety. You can dry pumpkin in the oven.

Dried pumpkin - recipe

Ingredients:

Pumpkin - 2 kg;

Sugar - 300 g for pouring and 500 g for syrup;

Water 640 ml.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the pumpkin into pieces measuring 50 × 25x25 millimeters. Sprinkle the pieces with sugar.

2. Keep them twice for 15 hours at room temperature with juice separation and preservation.

3. From 500 g of sugar and water, prepare a syrup, which must be poured over the pumpkin.

4. Keep the pieces filled with syrup for 8 minutes at a temperature of 85 degrees.

5. After that, drain the syrup and dry the pumpkin in the oven for 30 minutes at a temperature of 85 degrees. And at a temperature of 65-70 degrees - twice for 35 minutes.

6. Put the cooled pumpkin in a 3-5 cm layer in a stainless steel sieve, cover with gauze and place on the grates, which are placed above the heater or radiator. Leave the pumpkin at 30 degrees for 6 hours. Pieces need to be stirred periodically.

7. put in plastic bags but do not tamp. In this form, withstand the vegetable for 5-6 days to even out the humidity. Then fold the bags into plastic bags, bandaging them, or put them in a glass jar, tightly closing the lids.

The finished pumpkin should retain about 23% moisture. Storage temperature should not be more than 15-18 degrees. Relative air humidity is not more than 70%.

Dried pumpkin tastes amazing. It is perfect for cooking cereals, soups, fillings for pies. IN right conditions it can be stored up to 1 year. - Unusual taste is obtained.

Dried vegetables and fruits are a great help in cooking various dishes and enrichment winter diet vitamins and minerals.

For example, dried pumpkin pulp is very useful, the main thing is to learn how to dry a pumpkin in the oven so that it lasts longer. It can even be crushed into powder, then added to the dough to give the pastry a pleasant ruddy hue, or dried whole - for crafts.

Before drying the pumpkin in the oven, we select the fruits autumn varieties with thick skin: they dry out faster and are tastier. Pumpkins should be intact, not rotten and perfectly ripe. If the drying went well, at the output we get pieces that do not stick to hands and easily bend.

How to dry pumpkin slices in the oven: a recipe without salt

We select good fruit and proceed to their processing and drying:

We wash the pumpkins.
Cut off the skin and take out the pulp and seeds.
Cut the fruits into small cubes or slices.
We lower the cut into a pot of boiling water for five minutes, and recline it in a colander.
Preheat the oven to 60°C.
Arrange pumpkin slices on baking sheets lined with baking paper.
We send the raw materials to the oven for 4 hours and dry with the door slightly ajar - to evaporate moisture.
We set the 70-degree mode and continue drying the pumpkin in the oven for another couple of hours.

Cool dried pumpkin and transfer to glass jars. Close them with lids and store in a cool dry place.

Drying pumpkin with salt in the oven

To obtain salted dried pumpkin for use in cooking various dishes, follow this plan:

We wash, clean and cut the pumpkin into slices: their thickness should not exceed 1 cm.

Pour ice water into one pan, hot water into another, and boil it. Dissolve salt in boiling water at the rate of 1 tsp. per 2 kg of product.
Put the cut in a pot of boiling water and blanch for a couple of minutes.
We shift the pieces into a container with ice water for two minutes.
Before drying the pumpkin in the oven, we recline it in a colander.
Preheat the oven to 65 degrees.
We cover the baking sheets with baking paper and lay out the pumpkin slices at a distance of 1 cm from each other.
Dry them for 5 hours, opening the door.
Increases temperature regime up to 80 degrees, and dry the cut for another couple of hours.

When the pumpkin has cooled, put it in jars of glass or bags of natural fabric and remove and store in a dry, dark place.

How to dry a pumpkin in the oven and make a powder

In cooking, not only pumpkin cubes and slices are used. After learning how to dry pumpkin slices in the oven, we will find out how to make pumpkin powder, which will preserve all useful fiber and trace elements:

Cut the peeled, seeds and pulp fruits into pieces.
Cook the cut in boiling water for 20 minutes.
recline boiled product in a colander, cool and grind in a blender until puree. If there is no blender, we wipe through a sieve.
We line the baking sheets with baking paper and spread the puree on them in a thin layer.
We heat the oven to 130 ° C and dry for 20-30 minutes: you should get a dry layer.

Grind the dry pumpkin mass, pour into jars or paper bags, and store in a dry place. Pumpkin powder adds a beautiful color to baked goods, it is good in soups, garnishes and dessert dishes. If mixed with warm water, you get a healthy pumpkin puree.

How to dry candied pumpkin in the oven

From pumpkin pulp excellent candied fruits are obtained - an excellent substitute harmful candy. To get a natural pumpkin treat, follow the step-by-step instructions:

We cut the peeled pumpkin into sticks, whose thickness should not exceed 3 cm.
I put the cut in enamel pan and fall asleep with sugar at the rate of 1 cup per 1 kg of pulp.
We cover with a dish, put oppression, and keep the dish in the refrigerator for 8 hours.
Drain the juice into a jar to make syrup from it later.
Again, we fall asleep cutting with sugar and place under pressure in the refrigerator for 10 hours.
We take out the pumpkin pieces, pour the juice from the jar into the pan and boil for 10 minutes, adding sugar to your taste.
Add pumpkin bars and simmer for another 10 minutes, without letting the liquid boil.
We throw away future candied fruits in a colander, delicious syrup roll into banks.

Next, lay out the pieces on baking sheets lined with paper and dry at 65 degrees in the same way as when drying pumpkins with salt. After we roll the candied fruits in powdered sugar, put in jars and store in room conditions or refrigerator.

Pumpkin is not only made delicious treats, but also interesting thematic or interior crafts. Having figured out how to dry candied pumpkin in the oven, we will learn how to dry whole pumpkin for future crafts.

Not every fruit is suitable for this, but only small, decorative varieties with pronounced bulges, healthy and intact, with stalks and a very hard surface.

Preparing a Whole Pumpkin for Drying

We wash the fruit to remove all impurities, and wipe it dry, eliminating unnecessary moisture.
We keep it for an hour in a dry, darkened corner.
Wipe again with a dry cloth.
Again we send for an hour to a dry dark place.

As soon as the surface of the fruit is completely dry, you can start drying the pumpkin in the oven.

Drying pumpkin

Drying a whole pumpkin in the oven is not an easy task, but doable, the main thing is to follow the instructions clearly:

Preheat the oven to 60 degrees.
Lay out baking paper on a baking sheet.
We put the prepared fruit on paper and send it to the oven.
Turn the pumpkin regularly to dry all sides.

Whole pumpkins dry for about 8 hours, but they can dry out earlier: the larger the fruit, the longer the drying time. After we stopped drying the pumpkin in the oven for future crafts, we take it out and cool it at room conditions.

How to store dried pumpkin

Now it’s clear how to dry a pumpkin in the oven different ways for various purposes. And in order to keep the pumpkin slices longer, we put dry paper on the bottom of the storage containers and on top of the pumpkin slices: if moisture suddenly appears in the jars, the paper sheets will absorb it.

Optimum temperature dry crop storage is 10-15 degrees, the humidity level is not more than 55%.

Pumpkin is one of the most popular vegetables in the diet and baby food. In a dark, cool room, fruits can be stored until spring. But a cut pumpkin cannot be preserved for a long time. In addition, the grown fruits often reach enormous sizes, and the family is not able to eat such an amount of pumpkin for a maximum of two weeks. That is why this vegetable is recommended to dry. And how to do it right, we will tell in our article.

Dried pumpkin: calories and nutritional value

Pumpkin like most dried vegetables and fruits, keeps the same set useful substances that were contained in it fresh. The composition of the dried vegetable contains all the important vitamins and minerals necessary for the normal functioning of the body, alimentary fiber, which have a beneficial effect on metabolic processes and contribute to the removal of toxins and toxins.

Dried pumpkin gives strength when physical activity positive effect on all organs digestive system strengthens memory. Moreover, the semi-finished product obtained as a result of drying does not require additional heat treatment. Dried pumpkin contains 1.8 g of proteins (2% of daily allowance) and 8.4 g of carbohydrates per 100 g of vegetable. Calorie content depends on the type of fruit and is approximately 41 kcal per 100 grams. Thanks to this, pumpkin can be included in various diets, used in the preparation of low-calorie diet soups, porridge, etc.

Three ways to dry a pumpkin

There are three main ways to dry a pumpkin at home:

Drying pumpkins outdoors is the best option outside, but a kitchen is also suitable.
Dried pumpkin and fruit - with this method of processing fruits, the necessary temperature is maintained, which allows you to save a maximum of useful substances.
Drying pumpkin in the oven - can be used as an alternative to an electric dryer. Subject to technology, it also turns out tasty and healthy dried vegetables and fruits.

In addition, dried pumpkin can be cooked with sugar or unsweetened, preserving natural taste product. Read more about how to dry a pumpkin in different ways, we will tell below.

How to air dry a pumpkin

Our grandmothers also used this method when they made apple, apricot and other drying for the winter. Sliced pieces of pumpkin according to this recipe are laid out in one layer on a baking sheet, and preferably a sieve that will provide good ventilation. After that, the workpiece with pieces of vegetables must be taken out to open air(in the courtyard of the house or on the balcony) and place the baking sheet so that the rays of the sun fall on it. With good weather, dried pumpkin will be ready in 2-3 days.

You can also dry the pumpkin in the kitchen. To do this, it is cut into thin slices and hung with a sewing needle on a nylon thread. In this case, the pumpkin will dry under the hood or over the window for about a week.

Dried which is proposed above, has a number of disadvantages. Firstly, it is difficult to maintain the necessary conditions of sterility, since flies will land on vegetables anyway. Secondly, autumn weather is not always favorable for drying.

How to dry a pumpkin in an electric dryer?

The easiest and most convenient way to dry the pumpkin is in a special electric dryer. And although the vegetables in it are dried from 12 to 24 hours, this happens without the direct participation of a person. It is enough to fill the trays with chopped pieces and turn on the device. After 12-20 hours, the dried pumpkin in the dryer will be ready. The temperature in the device is maintained at 55 degrees throughout the entire time.

Cut vegetables for drying in small pieces no more than 3 cm thick. The time spent by the pumpkin in the dryer will depend on the size of the cut. Before drying, the pieces can be boiled for 5 minutes in sweet water(for 1 liter of water 100 g of sugar). Thanks to this, pumpkin dried in an electric dryer will have more rich taste and bright color.

Store prepared pumpkin in glass jar covered with a cloth and tied with an elastic band. You can also use a special bag made of natural fabric for storage.

Drying pumpkins in the oven

Drying a pumpkin in the oven is much faster than in the air, but not as convenient as in an electric dryer. Nevertheless, it is this method of obtaining drying that is most often used by housewives.

Before sending the baking sheet with the pumpkin into the oven, it is recommended to blanch the vegetable cut into pieces, first dipping it in boiling water for 2 minutes, and then in cold water. This will help keep the pumpkin's bright orange color. Water can be made sweet or slightly salty.

After the water drains from the pieces of pumpkin, thrown into a colander, they must be laid out in one layer on a baking sheet and sent to the oven for 5 hours, where they will be dried at a temperature of 60 degrees. After 2 hours, increase the temperature to 80 degrees and continue to dry the vegetable for another 2 hours. Then turn off the oven and leave the baking sheet in it until it cools completely.

Dried pumpkin in the oven is slightly soft inside. It can be added to sweet pastries, milk porridge or eat instead of sweets with tea.

Dried sweet pumpkin

All the advantage of this recipe is that you can get not only sweet pumpkin, which is easy to replace sweets, but also bright and fragrant pumpkin syrup. Dry orange vegetable according to this recipe it is recommended in the following sequence:

Put pieces of pumpkin (1 kg) about 3 cm thick into a saucepan, add a glass of sugar, cover with a flat plate and put oppression on top, for example three-liter jar with water. Place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight.
After the specified time, drain the juice into a separate jar and save it for syrup. pumpkin slices again cover with sugar and put the pan in the refrigerator for another 10 hours.
After the time has elapsed, take out the pumpkin, and pour the preserved juice into the pan and boil it, adding sugar to taste. Boil the juice for 10 minutes, then add pumpkin pieces to it and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, not allowing the syrup to boil.
Throw the pumpkin into a colander or sieve, after which the juice can be preserved.
When all excess liquid has drained from the pumpkin, the pieces can be dried using any of the methods proposed above.

Candied pumpkin in an electric dryer

In an electric dryer, you can cook healthy vegetables that are in no way inferior in taste to natural “sweets” from pineapple, bananas and other fruits. At the same time, in order to improve the taste of candied fruits, it is recommended to additionally use spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger). Also, dried pumpkin goes well with citrus fruits (lemons, oranges).

To prepare candied fruits according to this recipe, you will need 0.5 kg of pumpkin, a glass of sugar and peel from 1 orange. First, the vegetable must be cut into slices, then covered with sugar and left in this form for several hours so that the pumpkin releases juice. After a while, you need to add the diced crusts to it and put the pan on the fire. Boil the pumpkin for 5 minutes, then remove the pan from the stove and leave the mass to infuse for 6 hours. After the specified time, boil the pumpkin again for 5 minutes, and then again let it brew for 3 hours.

Then vegetable pieces put on pallets, previously covered with parchment, and leave in an electric dryer for 6 hours. After the specified time, candied fruits will be ready.

Pumpkin Chips

You can make thin dry pumpkin sheets both in the oven and in an electric dryer, but it is preferable to use the second drying option. You need to start the process of processing a vegetable with baking. To do this, the pumpkin is cut into several large pieces, the seed part is removed from it, and the vegetable itself, with the peel, is sent to the oven, heated to 170 degrees. Baking time depends on the size of the cut pieces and is 20-40 minutes.

After the vegetable is ready, it must be cooled and with a spoon remove all the pulp to the very peel. With one pumpkin weighing 2 kg, about 2 cups of pulp are obtained. It also needs to be laid out on a pallet of an electric dryer in a thin layer, about a glass per baking sheet. The pumpkin will dry for 16 hours at a temperature of 55 degrees. As a result, thin orange sheets are formed. Dried pumpkin in the dryer turns out to be quite fragile, so it breaks well into pieces. This is how chips are obtained, which are well stored in a glass jar.

pumpkin powder

The leaves obtained as a result of drying the pulp can be used in cooking directly in this form, or you can make pumpkin powder out of them. To do this, chips dried on previous recipe, you need to grind in a coffee grinder or electric meat grinder with a special nozzle. If the grinding is too coarse, the powder must be sieved through a fine sieve, and then crushed again.

Dried pumpkin, the recipe for which involves drying the pieces rather than the pulp, can also be used for cooking. pumpkin powder. Only it will need to be preliminarily held in an electric dryer for 4 hours so that the pieces become hard inside. Turning a soft pumpkin into powder is almost impossible.

What dishes can be prepared from dried pumpkin?

Dried pumpkin in the form of unsweetened pieces is most often used to make puree soups. To do this, it is boiled in salted water, where it increases in volume several times. After that, other vegetables are added to the soup, and at the very end of cooking, it is mashed with a blender. Sweet candied fruits are usually added to baked goods along with other dried fruits.

Dried pumpkin for the winter has found even more use in the form of pumpkin powder. It is used in the preparation of absolutely any dishes. To do this, the powder is first soaked in water (1 cup of water per ¼ cup of powder), and then added directly to the dish. You can use the powder directly in dry form, using it as a breading for meat and fish, or adding it to flour, making it brighter and the dough tastier.

Dark chocolate with candied fruits and dried apricots

This great way make the normal one more useful. To do this, its taste is enriched candied pumpkin, dried apricots, raisins and dried seeds.

For the preparation of candied fruits will be topical prescription dried pumpkin (sweet). Dried apricots and raisins (50 g each) must be soaked for several minutes in warm water and then dry on paper towel. Dry the pumpkin seeds in the oven at a temperature of 160 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring constantly so as not to burn. On a sheet of parchment, draw a square with sides of 20 cm to mark the boundaries of the future chocolate bar.

Then you need to melt chocolate (200 g) in a water bath. Pour it on parchment, sprinkle with candied fruit, dried apricots and raisins on top, as well as pumpkin seeds, cleaned or not. Cool chocolate for 2 hours. Then cut into pieces and store in the refrigerator.

Healthy Banana and Pumpkin Candies

To prepare such sweets, you will also need pumpkin pulp (0.5 kg) baked in the oven. Then sugar is added to it to taste and pureed with a blender. The resulting puree is spread with a spoon on a marshmallow tray in an electric dryer (about 6 tablespoons), spread evenly in a thin layer and dried for 12 hours. During this time, the sheets will not become dry, as when cooking chips. They will be soft and pliable. They are twisted into a tube, which is then cut into portioned pieces.

Do-it-yourself dried pumpkin sweets are moderately sweet and very healthy. They can be given to children from the age of one.

Dried Pumpkin Pkhali: Georgian Cuisine

Pkhali (mkhali) is a dish Georgian cuisine, which can be made from any vegetables, meat, fish or offal, but the dressing is always the same. Dried pumpkin is always used for pumpkin pkhali. It is boiled in salted water, then thrown into a colander and allowed to drain excess liquid. After that, the pumpkin is cut into small pieces.

The dressing is always made from the same ingredients. For this use walnuts(2 cups), green cilantro, celery and dill, ucho-suneli (1 teaspoon), garlic (3 cloves), vinegar (3 tablespoons). Next, the pumpkin is mixed with dressing and allowed to brew for about an hour. During this time, the pumpkin will absorb all the liquid from the sauce and may become too dry. If necessary, you can add a little water to the snack.

Real works of applied art can be obtained from the “natural product” collected on the “natural product”. For some, this statement sounds somewhat unusual, but there is a considerable amount of truth in it. One has only to take a closer look at, and you will surely see the appropriate "". Especially in this regard, massive gourds stand out, so let's consider what can be done from the grown and prepared decorative.

What can be made from pumpkin

The first thing that comes to mind is a "head" for Halloween. But the decorative "abilities" of the steep-sided culture do not end there.

If you arm yourself with imagination and make some efforts, then from this plant you can build:

It turns out that the assortment of crafts from the prepared decorative pumpkin only limited by the imagination of the master. But no less important role is played by the blanks themselves, which are worth mentioning separately.

Choice of pumpkins for decoration

A small plant weighing from 100 to 500 g is best suited for such purposes. You can take all ripe and healthy rounds from this weight category. Fruits with more impressive "dimensions", in turn, are distinguished by thicker pulp, which is more likely to rot than reach the desired conditions.

Naturally, the pumpkin should be whole, without scratches, and even more so cracks. Equally important is the place of gathering and its time. So, the best choice there will be a fruit hanging on a dried brown lash. But immature, too loose or "stuck" by the first frost specimens should be immediately put aside.

A separate topic is decorative melon lines. The most popular of them are the following varieties:

"Orange" really like citrus. Small sizes (up to 300 g) in combination with bright color make such fruits a desirable decoration. In appearance, they can be both spherical and slightly flattened.
"Tangerine". These crumbs are easily recognizable by their smooth skin with underdeveloped ribs.
"Chalmoid". Is different unusual view fruits, which, as it were, are assembled from two parts. The variety is considered large and striking a variety of options design. Instances with a large upper half are often referred to as fungi.
"Baby Boo", which, due to its small (10 cm) diameter and white color, can be mistaken for a giant garlic.
"Kleine Bicolor". The contrasting "pear" color scheme is emphasized by a clear border: a dark green underside with light stripes is replaced by a rich yellow top.
"Sweet Dumpling". Quite large (400–500 g) fruits with ribs delight the eye with alternating white or yellowish “facets” and green stripes with frequent white dots running along their entire length.

Important! With open "garden" drying, the plant quickly begins to "give out" bad smell, so it is better to place it away from the gazebo and paths.

Except varietal diversity, there is also a species "scatter". The fact is that pumpkins of the original “bottle” shape, which are in demand as decorations, belong to a different species, known as lagenaria. And already from this “section” the most spectacular varieties stand out, such as the club-shaped line “Cobra” with spotted coloring and a bizarre shape.

Preparation

Even before you dry the pumpkin you like to get crafts from it, it will have to be properly prepared. This process does not conceal special tricks and boils down to the following procedures:

To begin with, the peel is washed in soapy water and thoroughly dry.
After that, the fruit is wiped with alcohol or any liquids with its "participation".
It remains to transfer the pumpkin to a place protected from sun rays place. In such a room there should be good ventilation. There, the workpiece will stay until its shell begins to change color (this is about 1-2 weeks).

How to dry a pumpkin for long-term storage

Proper drying is a delicate process, and it also requires a fair amount of patience. If the fruit of the usual form can dry from 3 months to six months, then a more “thick-skinned” lagenaria will take at least 10 months (or even 1 year).

Did you know?To prepare 1 liter pumpkin seed oil leaves an average of 35-40 fruits.

The main rule is that shrinkage should be natural. Some try to speed it up by “running” in the microwave or oven, but this negates all the decorativeness of the fruit: at the slightest mistake, the pumpkin will turn out to be baked, and it would be wiser to eat it. With such heat treatment, the structure of the fibers is disturbed, and as a result, the peel loses the necessary rigidity.

Therefore, it would be better to let the moisture out "to chance". The role is assigned to the pores covering the surface of the fruit and the stalk. Just before drying the chosen for decoration ripe pumpkin entirely, you will have to put an oilcloth or a piece of dense film under it - over time it gives a natural leak. This necessary condition for storage in room.
This method is the most massive and simple, but it has its own nuances that it is advisable to keep in mind:

The fruits are laid out (or better - hung) on the loggia or balcony. If “lying” storage is planned, they try to place the pumpkin on a table with frequent gaps between the planks - they will provide proper ventilation.
Do not forget about the constant circulation of air (for these reasons, solid countertops and closed cabinets, warm kitchens or musty cellars are not suitable).
The first couple of weeks, the blanks are inspected every day, rejecting too soft or wrinkled specimens. There is one tricky point here related to mold. It can appear on the peel from exposure to moisture flowing from the fruit. Such "traces" are easily erased, but after a couple of days they appear again. This is not scary - at the end of drying, you will see an unusual pattern on the "skin" of the vegetable.

Important!Purely fodder varieties are difficult to decorate- not every knife can cope with bulky and dense pulp.

Unripe pumpkins rot most often, while hitting their ripe "colleagues". Seeing a small spot, try to put pressure on it with your finger - rot lends itself immediately, and it is better to throw out such an instance. Due to inexperience, the “effect” of rot can be confused with mold, which was mentioned in the paragraph above.
For uniform shrinkage, weekly turning is required (at least once a week and a half). This simple manipulation will keep the pumpkins from rotting.

Did you know?Every autumn (September to November) the German city of Ludwigsburg turns into a pumpkin capital peace." There is the largest festival entirely dedicated to this culture.

Some purely decorative varieties in warm regions can be dried on fresh air . Here, too, there are technological subtleties:

First of all, the fruit is cut off along with a 4–5 cm tail. It is not worth tearing it off - moisture evaporates much worse through an uneven hole, which will slow down the whole process.
The tail is also required (torn stalks are very susceptible to rot).
The future "decor" is hung separately or placed on ventilated wooden pallets. Otherwise, the requirements are the same: regular inspection and “scrolling” with rejection as necessary.

By the way, about waste. Get ready for the fact that even with the right content, 7–10% of the blanks will go to the pit - this is the price “for beauty”.

In addition to the two main methods, there is another one. This storage "on the vine", which is practiced by followers of the most natural agricultural technology. Everything is simple here - the fruits dry out without separation from the plant. For best effect they are placed in divided sections of the fence or palisade with prepared niches.

The obvious advantages of such drying are excellent ventilation, coupled with a good “preservation” of a ripened pumpkin, which is not afraid of rain or frost. Already after the cut, it lends itself well to varnishing or painting. Of the shortcomings, only the insecurity of such plantations stands out - they can easily become the prey of country thieves or suffer from large animals.

How to determine readiness

Having found out the main details, let's not forget about such a question as checking the readiness of the product for artistic processing.

You can already determine it by color: the fruit, completely dried from the inside, will fade a little (if an ordinary pumpkin was used). Lagenaria, on the other hand, change their green color to yellowish brown or become completely brown.