Pumpkins for Eating and Decorating

  • Post published:10/13/2017
  • Post comments:4 Comments
Pumpkins
Pumpkins for sale at Butynski Farm

Pumpkin Season is here!  Jack o’ lanterns seem as American as apple pie, but pumpkins, squash and gourds, along with tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize, and cocoa, are native to Central America and Mexico. Over time they migrated to North America and Europe. In fact, New World foods are essential to a large portion of the African population.

We don’t often think about the important nutritional value of pumpkins. Pumpkins are all about Cinderella’s coach, Jack ‘o lanterns and pumpkin pie. However, the many species of pumpkin are low in calories but are a good source of fiber, vitamins A and C. These all support vision, heart health, and reduce the risk of colon cancer. Even the seeds provide health benefits. When was the last time you added some nutritious pepitas to your salad? Happily pumpkins and squash are delicious so it is no hardship to fit pumpkins into your diet.

Pumpkin is the essential ingredient in pumpkin pie (of course) but the menu is much larger including pumpkin bread and pumpkin pastries, pumpkin ravioli, risotto and soup. We went to a party last year where they were serving pumpkin beer!

Pumpkin pie is a great dessert for the fall. It need not be kept just for Thanksgiving. I have bought canned pumpkin for my pies, but I have just been informed that most canned pumpkin is really squash. I guess I should read my labels better.

The best pumpkins for pie have familiar names like the New England Pie Pumpkin, but less familiar are Baby Pam, Long Island Cheese, Long Pie Pumpkin, Baby Bear, Ghost Rider and Spookie.

The first thing to remember about pumpkins and winter squash is that pumpkins, and winter squash are long season fruits and need a long warm season, Many gardeners use floating row covers or sturdier plastic over hoops early in the season to protect them from the weather as well as cucumber beetles or other pests. They also need a rich soil with lots of organic matter to help retain moisture, a pH of 6 to 6.8 as well as a lot of sun and a lot of room. Their vines can run amuck in the garden.

The All America Selections Cinderella pumpkin is also known as the Rouge Vif d’Etampes because of its color and shape resembling Cinderella’s coach. It will send out 10 foot vines and the fruits can weigh up to 20 pounds. Sorcerer pumpkin, another AAS winner, is similar in size with similar vines, but a deeper, dark orange color.

There are bush varieties like Gold Nugget Squash which looks exactly like a pumpkin. This All America Selections squash can produce up to ten fruits per plant weighing about one or one and a half pounds.

Over the past few years ghostly white pumpkins have come on the scene. There are a number of varieties. Baby Boo is a miniature white pumpkin that might especially appeal to children. Flat White Boer Ford is bone white and its flattened shape is similar to the Cinderella pumpkin. It will reach 30 pounds is a good pumpkin for cooking. Lumina will grow to 20 pounds and is a smooth round squash that is good for carving and also good to eat. It is notable that these white pumpkins often need some shade to keep them from turning yellow.

The white Pumpkin Super Moon is an AAS winner. It can reach up to 50 pounds and was chosen by AAS for its disease resistance, vigorous growth, early fruit development and flavor.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Baker Creek Heirloom seeds offer large selections of very unusual pumpkins like Galeux d’Eysines which is a pale pink and covered with rough ‘warts.’ It grows on a long vine and will weigh about 15 pounds. It can be a stunning decoration, or it can be eaten in stews and soups.

Giant Pumpkin
Giant Pumpkin – 1st prize winner grown by Sue Chadwick

Pumpkins provide a lot of fun in many ways including growing a giant pumpkin. I once attended a Giant Pumpkin club meeting and learned all about the trading in giant pumpkin seeds, and how to pamper plants over the spring and summer with shelters from the cold or wind, how to arrange proper watering and fertilizing. They also talked about various pumpkin events. I was enchanted by the idea of a pumpkin race. Contestants hollowed out pumpkins large enough to sit in, and then raced each other across a pond! I always think of that race when I admire the giant pumpkins at the Franklin County Fair.

I’m planning on some fun with a pumpkin too, but it doesn’t involve a pond. I bought a pie pumpkin at the Greenfield Farmers Market and I’m ready to make my first pumpkin pie from scratch – beginning with cooking the pumpkin. I’ve been told to cut the pumpkin in half, cut off the stem, scoop out all the seeds and scrape away any fibers. Then lay the pumpkin halves cut side down on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. It’s wise to test by inserting a paring knife here and there to make sure it is cooked through. Then remove it from the oven and let it cool for an hour. Scrape out the cooked pumpkin flesh, put it in the food processor and process for two or three minutes until there is a smooth puree. The puree can be refrigerated for five days or so, or kept in the freezer for three months. Bon appétit.

.Between the Rows   October 7, 2017

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Helen Opie

    Tom Brigham said ghat Medomac Cannery in northen ME made more thsn 30,000 cases of canned pumpkin/squash pie filling a year. One set of 10K was labeled pumpkin, another 10K was labeled squash, and the remainder got labeled for whatever the orders came in for.
    ME Ag Extension Service came and talked to a MOFGA (ME Organic Farmers & Gardeners) meeting and said there was not a botanical description of the difference between squash and pumpkin, although it was generally agreed that pumpkins had square (4 faceted) stems and squash did not. So there you are.

    I prefer to use squash for all cooking; the one I like are drier-fleshed and heartier-tasting with more flavour of their own so need less sweetening, but I have also enjoyed some of the cooking pumpkind, not field pumpkins grown for stock feed and Jack o’lanterns.

    Some farmers feed their sheep or horses a diet of 40% pumpkin for a month every year. Pumpkins are an excellent vermifuge. I bought 5 lb pumpkin seeds (the green hull-less kind) every year and let my kids gorge on them to deworm them. Got them out again if I was suspicious of their needing them again. Safe and tasty besides.

    Happy Halloween and eat more of those delicious cucurbits!

  2. Oh, it’s so fun to see those giant pumpkins! I have to admit I wasn’t much in the mood for autumn until recently–we were very warm and it just didn’t seem right. But now the leaves are changing colors and the nights are cooler, so it’s time! 🙂 I’ve been using squashes for pumpkin pies that past couple of years, too. We get a lot of squashes from our CSA cooperative food share. They work well as pumpkin substitutes. Have fun cooking and baking with squashes and pumpkins! 🙂

  3. Pat

    Beth – I am going to try real pumpkin for pie, but I use squash a lot in my autumnal meals. And I have a great recipe for sweet potato and apple soup!

  4. Pat

    Helen – You have such a rich history with all vegetables! I enjoyed Tom’s story about the canned pumpkin/squash canned vegetables. So much easier than keeping track.

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