On October 26, 2022

Pondering the pumpkin this Halloween weekend

By Vern Grubinger

Editor’s note: Vern Grubinger, who is based in the University of Vermont Extension office in Brattleboro, is the extension vegetable and berry specialist.

The pumpkin is an odd vegetable. The more popular pumpkins get, the less people eat them.

Everyone wants to carve a jackolantern, but few people make pumpkin pie anymore. In other words, the pumpkin was once a popular food but now it’s just another pretty face.

When Europeans arrived in the New World, pumpkins and other squashes were widely cultivated by Native Americans who boiled, baked and dried them for nourishment.

By Vern Grubinger/UVM Extension
Farms, pumpkin patches and other venues offer a delightful array of pumpkin sizes, colors and shapes for sale.

Pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated food plants. Seeds many thousands of years old have been found in the highlands of Mexico. Pumpkins come in all sizes and shapes. They’re in the cucurbit plant family that includes squashes and cucumbers, but there are different species of pumpkins. Cucurbita moschata includes pumpkins used for canning which tend to be oblong with tan skin. The jackolantern and miniature pumpkins are Cucurbita pepo. Cucurbita maxima are the beasts of the pumpkin patch, giant pumpkins.

Henry David Thoreau wrote about growing a pumpkin weighing 123 pounds in 1857. By 1893 the record was 365 pounds, at the Chicago World’s Fair. The 1,000-pound mark was reached in 1996 by a New York grower. Last year, a pumpkin in Italy weighed 2,703 pounds.

Pumpkins of any size start from a female flower. These open for a few hours in the morning, ready for insects to deliver pollen from a male flower. Managed honeybees and native, ground-based bumble bees and squash bees are common pumpkin pollinators.

Once pollinated, pumpkins grow rapidly. They’re ready for harvest when the skin is tough to puncture with a fingernail, and the seeds are ripe. Most pumpkins turn orange as they ripen, but there are varieties with blue, tan and white coloring.

The difference between pumpkins and other winter squashes is culinary rather than taxonomic.

Pumpkins are drier, coarser and strong-flavored compared to squash. They’re used in pies rather than served as a baked vegetable. They typically have a harder, more jagged stem, too.

The average pumpkin meets its demise in October or November for Halloween or Thanksgiving, as a jack-o-lantern or for dessert. The tradition of carving vegetables for Halloween was brought to America by Irish and Scottish immigrants, who previously used potatoes or turnips, but found pumpkins easier to carve. Halloween has its origins in an ancient Celtic event as well as All Saints Day, established by medieval popes.

The U.S. produces about 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins annually. Much of that comes from Illinois for canning. In the Northeast, pumpkins are an important source of fall revenue for many diversified vegetable farms.

Pumpkins are fun, delicious and nutritious, too. Their orange color comes from beta-carotene, an antioxidant that converts to vitamin A in the body. One cup of pumpkin contains just 50 calories but has three grams of fiber and a lot of potassium. Pumpkin seeds are packed with protein, fiber, many minerals and healthy unsaturated fats.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Seventh Heaven Salon & Boutique reflects on past year, success in Killington

November 13, 2024
By James Kent Hair stylist and manager Katelyn Stewart and owner Peggy Campney moved their thriving hair salon and boutique from Ludlow to Killington last year after the July 2023 floods made it impossible for their business to continue in their current location. When the opportunity presented itself to Stewart and Campney, they exchanged one…

Killington Grand Hotel sale sets new sales record

November 6, 2024
The most expensive interval ownership condominium in Killington was sold by Killington Pico Realty on Nov. 1, for $210,000–one of two interval condominiums in Killington to sell for more than $200,000 in the same week. For perspective, this same interval condominium sold just 16 months ago for $134,000. Krista Mosher and Jessica Posch of Killington…

Thinking spring this fall

October 30, 2024
By Deborah J. Benoit, Extension Master Gardener, University of Vermont Fall foliage color has peaked, and leaves are falling. Temperatures are dropping, and it’s time to put the garden to bed. It is also a perfect opportunity to prepare for spring. What you do this fall can provide significant benefits when the garden wakes up…

Vermont communities can help hurricane-affected pets

October 23, 2024
By Kerry McKeel, Best Friends Animal Society With the devastation wrought in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee due to Hurricane Helene and more damage anticipated from Hurricane Milton, Best Friends Animal Society urges Americans to foster or adopt from local shelters and rescue groups to make room for incoming dogs and cats from impacted areas. “This…