How a Brewer Is Repurposing Halloween Pumpkins

Turning pumpkins into a sake-like beverage may sound weird, but it’s a creative way to tackle food waste while producing a delicious, seasonal drink.

Every Halloween, a staggering 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins are discarded across the United States. Takashi Sato, the eighth-generation brewer and president of San-J Tamari, is challenging people to change the way they do away with their carved decorations. Sato promotes a unique twist on sustainability through social media, urging people to transform their leftover jack-o-lanterns into delicious, fermented drinks instead of throwing them away. His seasonal campaign offers a recipe for pumpkin amazake, a sake-like, mildly sweet Japanese beverage, to combat food waste while adding something unique to the colder months.

“Halloween is such a widespread holiday where so many pumpkins are simply thrown away. By presenting a challenge for people to think creatively about how they can reuse them, it becomes a fun way to tackle this problem.”

Sato believes in using fermentation, a technique paramount to his family’s brewing legacy, to help prevent spoilage and extend the life of food. For Sato, promoting pumpkin repurposing is not only about promoting a holiday; it’s about shifting the public’s view of sustainability. Fermentation, particularly through the use of koji, a Japanese mold rich in enzymes, helps bring out the natural sweetness of pumpkins without adding sugar, which makes them more flavorful and versatile. Koji enzymes break down carbohydrates, intensifying the taste of pumpkin and creating a rich, satisfying flavor. Koji produces enzymes that break down carbohydrates more thoroughly than other typical cooking methods, which makes pumpkin amazake unique and accessible to people eager to try sustainable cooking at home. San-J’s research team worked diligently on the pumpkin amazake recipe, usually reserved for soy-based products, and used their expertise to work with pumpkins They combined the pumpkin with koji rice to heighten sweetness and bring out a distinctive taste.

“It’s so exciting when we can apply our long-standing knowledge of koji to a new field.”

To spread the word, Sato and his team have gone so far as to attend university lectures and hackathons. Recently, at a lecture at Stanford University, students shared innovative ideas, such as creating fermented condiments from surplus crops to use in cafeterias. These initiatives not only promote sustainability, but also inspire younger generations to apply different techniques to reduce food waste.

For Sato, pumpkin waste is just one facet of a much larger issue. He hopes his campaign will encourage people across the country to consider how they can reduce food waste with local produce in their own communities. By starting small and working with regional ingredients, Sato believes individual actions can collectively drive meaningful change. “The collective impact of these efforts can ultimately influence a wider audience and create sustainable change.”

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