“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden, or Life in the Woods.
The raw material for everything from jack-o-lanterns and pies, to soups and soft spreads, the pumpkin is a versatile fruit. Even the seeds and flowers are edible.
A member of the genus Cucurbita from the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, the pumpkin (or squash—actually, there is no botanical distinction between the two) is believed to have originated in Central America. Today it is truly an international fruit, grown and used in many ways around the world.
October is traditionally the season when bright orange pumpkins appear on farmstands and in fields around much of North America. Connecticut Field perhaps best represents the classic American Northeast pumpkin variety but there is a pumpkin for every whim—from the tiny decorative Jack Be Little to the huge Big Max. There are even pumpkins with white outer shells (including the tiny 3-inch Baby Boo and the 10- to 12-inch Lumina.)
Growing Pumpkins is Easy
Growing pumpkins and squashes “is not for the minimalist,” says Amy Goldman, author of The Compleat Squash: A Passionate Grower’s Guide to Pumpkins, Squash, and Gourds published in 2004 by Artisan Books. Goldman is a self-described “devotee of pumpkins and squashes” who grows many varieties of Curcubita at her Rhinebeck, New York home along with many other heirloom vegetables.
Pumpkins are not particularly difficult to grow—provided they have sufficient space to spread out their vines and lots of nutrients in the soil, which is another good reason to keep a compost pile. Pumpkins are a warm-season plant, so it’s best not plant them outside until all danger of frost has passed. (The seeds won’t germinate if the soil is too cool.)
Harvest pumpkins by cutting their stems with a sharp knife when they reach a deep, solid color and the rind has hardened, before the first heavy frosts of fall. Store the fruit in a dry place at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
How to Cook Fresh Pumpkin
Although canned pumpkin is available year-round, nothing beats the fresh stuff. For best results, select a “sugar” or “pie” pumpkin, which is smaller than a jack-o-lantern, with sweeter, firmer flesh. Pick a heavy pumpkin, with no soft spots. You’ll need about one pound of raw, untrimmed pumpkin for each cup of finished pumpkin puree.
Pumpkin puree can be prepared either by boiling, baking or microwaving large chunks of pumpkin until they are soft. After they cool, remove the peel and puree the flesh in a food mill or processor.
According to the University of Illinois Extension, the name pumpkin is derived from the Greek word “pepon” which was changed by the French into “pompon” and by the English into “pumpion”. (Shakespeare referred to the “pumpion” in his Merry Wives of Windsor.) American colonists called it a “pumpkin” and are said to have created the first pumpkin pie by filling a pumpkin shell with spices, milk and honey and baking it over hot ashes.
The largest pumpkin pie ever made was more than five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. The giant pie used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake, according to the University of Illinois Extension.
However they are prepared, pumpkins pack a nutritional punch loaded with the antioxidant beta-carotene, potassium and Vitamin A. And they make a pretty comfortable seat too.
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