The Genius Pumpkin-Cleaning Trick We Wish We’d Known About Sooner

Pumpkin carving is a fun fall tradition for many people. The messy, hands-on activity is perfect for celebrating the season, and there are a lot of ways to get creative with your jack-o-lantern . You can choose a pumpkin of any size, color and shape and carve any design you like. You can also paint the pumpkins and decorate them with other objects if you're not in the carving mood.

Traditionally, you would use a serrated knife, a spoon or scooper and a small paring knife or a pumpkin carving kit to carve the pumpkin. You use the knife to cut the top off the pumpkin, and then you use the spoon to remove the seeds and scrape out the stringy pulp from inside the pumpkin. Then, you draw your design on the pumpkin and carve it. You can save the seeds and roast them , which is our favorite part of the process.

If you don't like the cleaning part of carving pumpkins, though, Pure Wow just shared a new way to clean them, which they learned from the amazingly talented Jennifer Garner . This method is so fast and fun, and we wish we'd known about it sooner!

Related: 59 Best Pumpkin Bread Recipes for Every Type of Cozy Craving

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How to Clean Out a Pumpkin With a Hand Mixer

In the video, they remove a small portion of the bottom of the pumpkin (not the top) and then they use a hand mixer to loosen the insides of the pumpkin. Once the pulp is loose, they use a spoon to scoop out the insides without having to scrape anything.

"Spoiler alert: it totally works!" they said in the caption of their TikTok video. The mixer made cleaning the pumpkin easier and faster, and it cleaned it better than hand-scraping alone.

Once it's cleaned, you can carve it any way you like without having to worry about pumpkin guts getting in the way.

If you want to make your carved pumpkin last longer, you should soak it in a solution of one tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water for a few hours to kill bacteria and mold spores. Coat the carved edges with petroleum jelly or vegetable oil to seal in moisture. If you have the room, you can also put the carved pumpkin in the fridge whenever it's not on display to slow down decay. If it starts to shrivel, revive it by soaking it in cold water for a few hours. Another option: Leave it out and let the squirrels do their thing. It's totally your call.

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