Petroleum jelly is a great way to keep your carved pumpkins from drying out and getting that wrinkly look. Method 5: Rub It with Petroleum Jelly (aka Vaseline) But we recommend you play it safe and grab a battery-operated LED pumpkin light ($9.90 on Amazon) to light your jack 'o lantern.Īlso, this method, along with the next few, won't work as well as the bleach and silica ones above, since there is more moisture present. Some some folks say they've never had to deal with a jack-o'-lantern en fuego. Keep in mind that mineral oil is flammable, so you may want to be cautious about putting a lit candle inside. For carved pumpkins, spray inside and outside, making sure every part is saturated.Spray all over your uncarved pumpkin to keep it looking shiny and new.Grab some WD-40 (try Amazon or Walmart if you don't have any around the house).So go forth and use it to preserve both carved and uncarved pumpkins. It also contains several alkanes that are water-repellant and freeze-resistant. So that's what's keeping your pumpkins hydrated, protected from moisture, and fresh looking. It turns out the main ingredient in WD-40 is mineral oil - the same stuff in Vaseline (see below). If you want to be extra safe, don't put a candle in for at least 24 hours. However, WIRED Magazine sent a bottle of the stuff to a lab and broke down the ingredients within. How and why does it work? The company famously keeps its ingredient list a secret. Not only is WD-40 great for your squeaky doors, but it turns out it's also great for pumpkin preservation. Pumpkin Fresh Method 4: Spray It with WD-40 A lit candle used for illumination will dry out your pumpkin prematurely. It is also recommended that you use cool artificial lighting for illuminating your carved pumpkin. We recommend that you never display your carved pumpkin on concrete because concrete will draw out any moisture within your pumpkin which in turn will cause your pumpkin to age very quickly. The Pumpkin Fresh website also offers some helpful tips to keep your pumpkins from deteriorating: Just spray it all over the interior and the cutouts every day and enjoy a long-lasting jack-o'-lantern. This solution is designed to keep carved pumpkins at their freshest, unlike some methods, which preserve whole pumpkins (see the final trick listed below). This stuff isn't in a lot of stores, so you'll have to snag it from their website. They absorb moisture and keep things reasonably dry if it's humid out, and a non-moist carved pumpkin means less mold growth and less drooping. Since silica packets are a desiccant, it's no surprise they work well. Mental Floss compared a few of the methods on this list, finding that the bleach solution above and an opened silica packet were the best at prolonging the life of a carved pumpkin. While it may seem odd with so much airflow in a carved pumpkin, an opened packet of silica gel can keep the rot away from your jack-o'-lantern.
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It won't rot as fast as an untreated pumpkin, but it won't last as long as one soaked in the bleach solution.ĭon't Miss: How to Make a Bubbling, Brewing Pumpkin Cooler Method 2: Add an Opened Silica Packet (2nd Place) Regular spraying will also work, but your pumpkin will probably decay quicker. Some people also spray their carved pumpkins with a bleach solution daily, instead of doing the big dunk. It's also interesting to note that over at My Science Project, a bleach-treated jack-o'-lantern lasted for up to ten days with only minimal decay. You can find more information at Clorox's website. Remove from the solution and let the pumpkin air dry.The entire pumpkin should sit in the solution for two minutes. Be sure to hold it down as it will try to float. Stir three teaspoons of bleach into the water.Take a large bucket or tub and fill it with three gallons of water.After you have carved your pumpkin, rinse it out with water to get rid of excess strings and gunk.The steps for making the solution are super simple: A bucket or container large enough for your pumpkin to fit inside (if you don't have something around the house, try these from Amazon or Walmart).The sodium hypochlorite kills microorganisms that make pumpkins rot and dries out the pumpkin. These jack-o'-lanterns definitely deserve to be preserved! Image by Shawn Campbell/ Flickr Method 1: Soak It in a Bleach Solution (The Winner!)Ī dunk in bleach is an easy and effective way to keep your carved pumpkins from molding for up to seven days.