Be a pumpkin picker and bring home a hearty feast

And the revival has prompted a push to support local farmers and get the staple onto the dinner plate.

Market chairwoman Amorelle Dempster said it was a real treat to have pumpkins back at the Slow Food Earth Market in The Levee, Central Maitland, and she was confident the supply would continue through autumn and winter.

"There's so much value in the pumpkin," she said.

"You can feed the family over several meals with it and there's a variety of ways you can use it - from roasting it to adding it to soups and salads."

Pumpkins have returned to the market thanks to a grassroots campaign that put honey bee hives on farms.

The varroa mite caused the honey bee population in the Local Government Area to be destroyed and that left farmers relying on native bees and alternative pollinators like hoverflies to do the job. These had limited success and left growers with very small yields and in some cases no pumpkins at all.

Slow Food Hunter Valley is celebrating its return with a curried pumpkin, quinoa and lentil soup. The group says it's a must for those wanting a hearty - and healthy - meal.

To make the soup you'll need 3 t cooking oil; 1 brown onion; peeled and diced, 500 grams of butternut pumpkin that is deseeded, peeled and diced; 1/2 T curry powder; 1/2 C quinoa; 4 C vegetable stock; 1/4 C red lentils and chopped coriander leaves.

Related: It's bizarre to not hear a buzz

T means tablespoon, t means teaspoon and C means cup.

To make the soup put the onion into a hot pan with oil, add curry powder and then add the pumpkin and stock.

Then add the quinoa and lentils.

Cook for around 20 minutes with the lid on over a medium heat.

When the ingredients are soft, use a blender to make it smooth.

Warm the soup again before serving it.