Halloween Spooktacular Part 1: Pumpkin Spice Syrup

This is Halloween

Everybody make a scene

It's nearly Halloween, and I cannot move for pumpkins - be they lining the walls in the supermarkets, appearing in our coffees or peering ghoulishly out of windows, they're everywhere. Using pumpkins for decoration is big in the UK, but once we're done with our pumpkin lanterns we tend to just throw them out.

Our US counterparts have a different idea - pumpkin and pumpkin flavoured things are huge in America. They blend it, they bake it, they roast it and they worship it. Being on a student budget I kind of didn't want to waste any of the pumpkin I got for the house, so I bought a cooking pumpkin - they're smaller and a lot sweeter than regular carving pumpkins, and they look so darn cute when carved.

In Part One of my Halloween Spooktacular Blog Posts I'll be using the chunks of pumpkin I removed when carving, and in Part Two I'll be using up the rest of the leftover pumpkin.

This year, I finally decided to try something everyone's been talking about: the Pumpkin Spiced Latte.

The hype surrounding this one drink is just insane - it has its own hashtag on Twitter and Instagram (#psl) and the walls of my local Starbucks are decorated with writing encouraging me to come in and try one.

Don't get me wrong, now that I've tried them I love them, but I couldn't drink them everyday: mainly because my budget doesn't stretch that far, and their high sugar content doesn't exactly fit in with my healthy lifestyle. So I decided that I would instead make my own syrup - one that would be healthier, cheaper, and Vegan too.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup (makes 20+ portions)

Time to make: 30-40 minutes
Cost per portion: £0.08
Portion of your 5 a day: 0 (fresh pumpkin counts but not in this quantity)
Calories per portion: 20kcal

You will need:

• 1 culinary pumpkin
• 250ml water
• 100g granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 Tbsp Ground Ginger
• 1/2 Tbsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1 Tsp Ground Allspice
• 1/2 Tsp Cloves
• Roasting Tin
• Tin Foil
• Blender
• Bottle, for the syrup

Preheat your oven to 200c. Carve the pumpkin as you normally would, removing the seeds and flesh and putting to the side the bits of pumpkin removed when carving. These are the bits you're going to use for the syrup.

  Place your pumpkin chunks skin side up on a roasting tray and sprinkle over 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and the rest of the spices. Unfortunately here in the UK we don't have what's called Pumpkin Spice, which is a mix of all these ingredients, and I was not going to fork out £8 just for the only little jar of Pumpkin Spice I could find. Add 50ml of water to the tray and cover in foil. Roast for 20-30 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft and tender.

Bring to the boil the rest of the water and the sugar, stirring occasionally to make sure all the sugar dissolves. Remove and discard the skin and add the pumpkin and the leftover water in the bottom of the tray, and allow to simmer for 5 minutes before blending until smooth. Sieve the mixture before allowing to cool and bottling.

I'm drinking a pumpkin spice hot chocolate as I write this and it tastes delicious - I think the best part of this syrup is the fact it's so versatile, and it's so much cheaper than buying a single pumpkin spice latte, especially as it can be stored for up to a month in an airtight container. A perfect autumnal drink.