Pumpkin Fest!

Montmorency Primary School has come up with a novel, and delicious, way to honour its first pumpkin harvest – Pumpkin Fest!

The influence of US culture means that many Australian children associate pumpkins with Halloween celebrations in October, which is autumn pumpkin harvest time in the US.

Thanks to Montmorency PS’ passionate Kitchen Specialist Suzie Wilton, her students now have a celebration that fits with the autumn pumpkin harvest in Australia’s temperate climates.

Suzie said the school’s Garden Specialist Jasmine Lechte had helped the students grow a bumper crop of golden nugget pumpkins this year.

“The kids got really excited about them as we had them on a big harvest table,” Suzie said.

“I said we could have a Pumpkin Fest as a joke, but the kids loved the idea!”

The inaugural event was held on 24 March, with the students cooking a pumpkin-themed lunch featuring:

• Pumpkin & pepita scones
• Pumpkin & zucchini soup
• Salad of the Imagination with roast pumpkin, caramelised onions, feta, rocket, lettuce & wild rocket flowers
• Pumpkin pie.

Suzie said that in a lovely coincidence one of the volunteers at the Pumpkin Fest cooking class was a student’s grandmother who was visiting from the US and could explain the significance of the dish at another important US autumn celebration – Thanksgiving.

She said most of the students hadn’t heard of, or tried, pumpkin pie and were intrigued by the sweet pumpkin dessert.

“Most of the kids tried it, which I was really proud of.”

 As well as a bumper pumpkin crop, the school has also harvested about 60 quinces this season, which the children turned into quince jam and paste.

Suzie said the students enjoyed smelling the lovely perfumed fruit and were intrigued by how its yellow colouring changed to pink when it was cooked.

The jam was used in a batch of quince jam scrolls which, as well as being enjoyed by the kitchen class, were sold at the school’s mini market.

Another autumn task for the students at Montmorency was harvesting and drying nigella seed pods to collect nigella seeds.

The aromatic black seeds were then put to good use on a potato, rosemary and nigella seed focaccia.

“All the students hadn't heard of nigella seeds before and it was great to introduce something new,” Suzie said.

The students have also been broadening their culinary knowledge by coming up with inventive ways to use a large shrub of lemon verbena and trying a raw zucchini salad, which Suzie said was one of the most popular salads they had made.

She said the kitchen and garden classes gave students who might struggle in a traditional school environment a chance to shine.

“A lot of the kids see it as a place they can excel, when maybe they’re not so good in a classroom.”

“They just really get into it and they love talking about it to their parents.”

If you want to learn more about Montmorency Primary or volunteer at the school click here.