#egg community

Egg Community Event of October: Pumpkin Carving in Prospect Park

Every month, the Community Care team hosts an event bringing together our amazing customers and the inspiring producers they support. It’s a way to put faces to names and a chance to interact with neighbors, given that most of our customers call Brooklyn home. We kicked off the “Egg Community” in September with a tour and tasting at Fine & Raw, followed by drinks and a slice at Roberta’s. That Fine & Raw chocolate is seriously dangerous in the best way possible. Imagine what it smells like to stand in a small room surrounded by a vat of crushed coconut next to freshly ground almonds next to warm molten chocolate. It’s incredible! Oh, and Roberta’s pizza – it’s a Brooklyn institution. Need I say more?

In late October, we took advantage of the last warm days of Fall for some leaf-peeping and pumpkin-carving in Prospect Park. We set up shop with Krumville Bakeshop gluten-free pumpkin pie, Pie Corps apple and pear pies, Consider Bardwell Rupert and Pawlet cheese, and warm apple cider from Fishkill Farms – a perfect way to celebrate the season.

In between sips of cider and bites of apple pie, costumed kiddos (and some brave adults)carved spooky images into Blooming Hill Farm Jack-O-Lanterns. Those gorgeous pumpkins made excellent canvases for ghastly graveyards, black cats, and triangle-eyed ghosts. With some spare pumpkins on hand, we started inviting folks from the surrounding tables to come join us. We loved watching people dig into their pumpkins with mischievous smiles, as they explained that they hadn’t done that since they were 5 or 6 years old!

Once all was said and done, we were left with about a million pumpkin seeds and have been eating them on many a salad since. Enjoy this slightly addictive pumpkin seed recipe from Martha Stewart:

1 medium pumpkin

5 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste

Preheat 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut pumpkin open from the bottom, removing seeds with a long-handled spoon. Separate flesh from seeds, and reserve the flesh for another use (pumpkin pie, anyone?). Pumpkin should yield 1 cup seeds. Spread seeds on parchment in an even layer. Bake until dry, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Let cool.

In a medium bowl combine 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne. Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add pumpkin seeds and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Cook until sugar melts and pumpkin seeds begin to caramelize, about 45 to 60 seconds. Transfer to bowl with spices, and stir well to coat. Let cool. These may be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.