pumpkin

[marie83]

Bought my first pumpkin and would like to let ollie have it

Do green cheeks prefer raw or cooked pumpkin (seeds and flesh) and do I need to blanch any raw prior to freezing? He obviously eat a lot in one go due to his size.

[Pajarita]

My birds get it both ways. The butternut in the gloop is raw but they also get cooked calabaza. spaghetti, acorn squash, etc as well as pumpkin puree in their birdy bread. Orange and yellow pumpkins/squashes are very nutritious and parrots seem to like all kinds.

[marie83]

Thank you. Do you know about freezing it?

[Wolf]

So far everything I have found says to cook it before freezing it, but these are all for human use from cookbooks and food storage sources.

[marie83]

See everything I'm reading says to puree it which I'm not going to do for several reasons. I think I will just blanch it like I do with everything else and hope for the best.

[Wolf]

It is worth a try, I think that I would also try freezing it without blanching it as I do know that my Lady freezes some varieties of squash without blanching it first and in my mind a pumpkin is still a squash.

[Pajarita]

Yes, pumpkin can be frozen without blanching. Just cut it up in cubes and freeze it.

[marie83]

Ollie doesn't like raw pumpkin at all. I've been giving him a bit every day for a couple of weeks so I will try to cook some and see if he prefers that.

[Pajarita]

Mine get raw (actually frozen and then thawed so it does get softer than just plain raw) in the gloop but it's butternut. What we call 'pumpkin' (the Halloween one) as well as the other varieties like spaghetti, acorn, Mother Hubbard, etc. I always cook for them (even the canaries and cardinals love them!).

[shiraartain]

So if I went out and cut the top off of a (smaller) pumpkin and let the birds have their way with it, all parts would be safe for them to consume?

Just want to clarify. I'm running out of entertainment ideas these days.