LINCOLN SQUARE — Has Pinterest hacked Chicago's recycling website?
Because the latest tip from Recycle By City — "no carve, no waste, pumpkin decorating" — looks suspiciously like an inspiration board.
As the site notes, 40 percent of food grown in the U.S. is wasted annually, including Jack-O-Lanterns and their pumpkin guts.
The solution: Buy a pie pumpkin; dress it up in doilies, twine or washi tape (which is to masking tape what heirloom tomatoes are to ketchup); and then turn the unmutilated gourd into baked goods post-Halloween.
"These no-carve pumpkin decorations are stylish, simple to make, and preserve the flesh of the pumpkin, so they can go from decoration to dessert with zero waste," the website says.
Listen to Patty and Matt Bubala debate concerns over pumpkin waste.
Oh Recycle By City, you had us at "simple to make" and lost us at "DIY pumpkin puree."
We're all for saving the planet, but even Martha "I wake up at 4 a.m. to turn dryer lint into tea cosies" Stewart uses canned pumpkin in her recipes, a fact that's been giving mere mortals life for years.
Producing fresh pumpkin puree is laborious and the end result isn't as good as the canned stuff, per Stewart herself.
But the "no-carve" movement isn't utterly without merit. "Pumpkins in a stocking" is the best recycling of pantyhose we've seen yet.
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