Pumpkin Stuffed With Dried Cherries

Pumpkin season is here and lasts a while since these versatile fruits can be stored for a long time. And, yes they are a fruit and specifically a berry. Pumpkins have seeds that can be planted to grow into a new pumpkin (so they meet the definition of fruit) and they grow from a single pistil (part of the flower) so they meet the definition of a berry. I think this minor fruit / vegetable definition confuses youngsters everywhere; mine are always asking about cucumbers, avocados, squash, etc...all fruit. They had a babysitter do some firm research on the topic and came up with a lot of fruits that we commonly call vegetables.

Anyway, that is so not the point. We cooked a calabasa pumpkin (calabaza is really just the Spanish word for pumpkin but it is used to refer to the West Indian Pumpkin or Tropical Pumpkin and a few other varieties.) We use bright orange ones with deep orange flesh. When baked, they become sweet, and are similar in texture to a sweet potato. We scooped out the seeds, stuck the two halves in the oven face up and let them bake for a while (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours). I added my mixture of brown lentils, caramelized onions and garlic, and dried sour Montmorency cherries. (We used Eden fruit juice sweetened cherries which are still tart, not overly sweetened.)

Orange vegetables are full of vitamin A and pumpkin in particular supplies an array of minerals and is a cornerstone of a true macrobiotic diet. Many macrobiotic specialists would add an orange squash (Japanese variety usually) to a whole foods vegetarian brown rice based meal several times a week.

With the time change and dark evening, it was very cozy for the kids to have this kind of fall heavy meal.