Food & Drink

Six alternative things to carve if you're over pumpkins (and turnips)

Are you going to carve a spooky pumpkin?
Are you going to carve a spooky pumpkin?

MOVE over pumpkins. You make delicious soup and, yes, you’re usually the best thing about Halloween – but it’s not all about you.

Turns out there are some other fruit and vegetables that we reckon are even better to carve. Now, we admit we have no idea if having a go at a pineapple jack-o-lantern will go to plan – don’t blame us if you end up reverting back to a plain, old pumpkin – but just take a look at these for some inspo.

Pineapples

People’s pineapple craftwork is taking over Instagram, and we can see why. The spiky outside of the tropical fruit makes for a scarier look, and they just look so fun, don’t they?

FYI, to successfully carve a pineapple, we have some top tips: just cut off the top, remove the juice after hollowing out the inside and then be sure to dry it out with a towel.

Watermelon

Pinterest

Don’t be foolish and let that blood red flesh you’ve scooped out go to waste. Why not blend it all into a smoothie or make tangy watermelon lemonade? Remember you could add any kind of alcohol into the mix too – what a great excuse for hosting that Halloween party (like you even needed one).

Peppers

Pinterest

OK, admittedly they’re a lot smaller (and potentially a lot less scary to trick-or-treaters) than their giant orange counterparts. But where peppers are a winner over pumpkins is you can stuff them with whatever takes your fancy and turn your carving efforts into a meal.

Pinterest

What about this drool-worthy recipe?

Courgette

Who knew a courgette could be so versatile, eh? We are particularly loving using one vegetable to make two decorations. Such great Halloween handiwork.

Oranges

Potentially a bit (OK, very) fiddly, but if you use a grapefruit spoon to scoop out the orange flesh, it should be a bit easier. And there’s no worry about these taking up too much room as a Halloween decoration – how cute does it look as part of this selection?

Butternut squash

For all those people who leave buying pumpkins until the last possible moment, turns out a butternut squash really can live up to expectations as a worthy replacement. Honestly, the non-pumpkin possibilities are endless.