[GeologySage]

Is it wrong to wash off my new pumpkins and apply a coat of vaseline to make em all perdy and shiney?

Just kinda wondering if anyone else does this.

[vaderknightrider]

I don't use anything for my carvings, although I don't know if vaseline would do anything to the outside of a pumpkin.

[GeologySage]

No no, I apply it simply to make the pumpkin shiny.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

Can't say I've ever considered doing that, GeologySage. Doesn't that make your pumpkin slippery and hard to handle? Seems dangerous, in a carving environment.

I do use Vaseline on the cut edges of my carvings, to help preserve them. But I specifically try to avoid getting any on the actual pumpkin skin surface.

The Vaseline shine you suggest can make light glare off the surface, which can be distracting. Especially when trying to photograph you carved pumpkins. I like the lit pumpkin design to be the main focus, with no competing light glare. But maybe that's just me.

[GeologySage]

Guess we're talking two different worlds here... I'm referring to a purely uncarved pumpkin.

I clean em off before I carve them.