It is not easy to find the big pumpkins used for carving here in Japan and when you do manage to stumble across one they are usually expensive. I did have a look around, admittedly I didn't put that much effort into hunting one down but then when I was in the supermarket the other day I thought, why use a pumpkin? So, I threw a daikon (giant white radish) into the basket.
Carving it was a bit tricky, I cut up the inside first then Ebi-kun scooped out the middle and I cut out the face, I don't have carving tools so I just used my little veg knife.
Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
scary daikon!
Love it! Very ghost-like :-)
ReplyDeleteWe always used to use swedes to make lanterns, and I have used a water melon before now, too!
swedes? where on earth do you get them from, my favourite veg and I have never seen them in Japan.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Cornwall we never had pumkins either, but my sister and I tried all kinds of root vegetables! Yup, swedes were a favourite and nope, never seen any in Japan...
ReplyDeleteAnd your daikon is great! I might have to try that...
ReplyDeletePerfect! Way to improvise! Looks wonderful! Kerri
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic - it's so ghostlike! When I was little we made them with turnips, which I think are the traditional vegetable for Jack o'lanterns in Britain. Hollowing them out was always a major task - pumpkins are so easy in comparison!
ReplyDeleteWow, this looks so cool! I love the ghosty shape. There were some amazing long, tall Daikons at our local farmer's market last week - they'd have worked so great!
ReplyDeletethinking about it we used swedes as kids, they were really hard to carve.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling there is a British vs US translation thing going on here, I think a British swede is an American turnip and British turnip is an American rutabaga.