I did pumpkin down one year I cut it up into chunks...did not peel it and roasted it slowly. When done I put the chunks ,yes peel too in a blender and pureed it. If you look at canned pumpkin you will see that there is peel in theirs also..they do no peel, plus some also has squash in it too. I washed the seeds and roasted them to snack on...yummy!