Category: Fruits

For pumpkins, shorter chains apparently rule the day. When you first slice into one, note the clingy, vegetal odor. That’s major aroma constituent cis-3-hexenol, a six-carbon compound also known as ‘leaf alcohol. ‘ Close chemical cousins n-hexanol and 2-hexenal round out the top 3 smells, according to the authors. What should pumpkin smell like? Ripe […]

Pick a pumpkin that is heavy for its size—this means lots of sweet flesh inside. Treat your pie pumpkin just like a butternut squash: the best flavor will be from roasting in the oven. Get it ready for baking any way you’d like. The simplest is to split it in half, remove the seeds, and […]

Pumpkins change color from green to orange for the same reasons tree leaves change color in the fall, and they do it under the same conditions. Most pumpkins contain organic pigments called carotenoids that give their flesh and skin the classic deep orange tint. What colors are natural pumpkins? Certainly orange is the traditional, most […]

Picking a Pumpkin for Carving Look for a pumpkin that has a deep-orange color. Knock on the pumpkin to check that it is hollow (and therefore ripe). Make sure the bottom of the pumpkin isn’t soft and mushy! Check that the stem is firm and secure—but never pick a pumpkin up from the stem! How […]

With the help of some expert gardeners, we break down all you need to know to grow pumpkins. Plant your seeds in pots. Prepare the soil. Leave to germinate. Plant your seedlings outside. Raise off the ground. Water and feed regularly. Harvest your pumpkins. What are the stages of growing a pumpkin? From Seed to […]

A giant pumpkin is an orange fruit of the squash Cucurbita maxima, commonly weighing from 68 kilograms (150 lb) to over 910 kilograms (2,010 lb). What is the heaviest pumpkin ever? 2,702 lb 13.9 ozA farmer from Italy has just smashed the heaviest pumpkin record, with a specimen that tipped the scales at 1,226 kg […]

Ribs. Aside from their orange color, vertical lines, or “ribs,” on the skin are another distinguishing characteristic of pumpkins. They can have shallow ribbing, deep ribbing, or sometimes a combination of the two, and represent each row of seeds inside the pumpkin. What are the fibrous strands in a pumpkin for? They’re called fibrous strands […]

Raw pumpkin has a hearty, rich flavor that makes it a good stand-alone snack or side dish. One of the best ways to eat pumpkin is to slice it into cubes, but you can also eat raw canned pumpkin. However, so you don’t tire of it, you can add other ingredients without sabotaging its nutritional […]

Pumpkins, although large, aren’t very dense because they are mainly hollow inside. Given their large size, though, they displace a large amount of water. With a mainly hollow interior, it’s easy for a pumpkin to weigh less than the large amount of water it displaces! Why do pumpkins grow hollow? A pumpkin with a removed […]

Types of Edible Pumpkins Sugar Pie. New England Cheddar. Long Island Cheese. Hybrid Pam. Blue Doll. Porcelain Doll. Lumina White. Flat White Boer Ford. How can you tell if a pumpkin is edible? The skin of a pumpkin will be hard when the pumpkin is ripe. Use a fingernail and gently try to puncture the […]

Butternut Pumpkins Butternuts are a little sweeter, dryer and can be turned into soups, roasted with cinnamon or put to use in most cooked pumpkin dishes. Which pumpkin has the best flavour? 11 of the Best Pumpkin Cultivars to Grow for Cooking Casper. You may not think of white pumpkins as something to eat instead […]

White mold severely affects pumpkins and some varieties of winter squash. The disease infects both stems and fruit. White mold often infects pumpkin through the blossom end of the fruit. Stem infections start where cotyledons are fading or where the plant has wounds. How do you tell if the inside of a pumpkin is bad? […]

This palm-sized specimen was introduced in 1986 and is most likely a forgotten acorn squash cultivar; it looks like a miniature pumpkin but tastes like acorn squash. Other small pumpkins that are delicious include Baby Pam, the white Baby Boo and New England Pie. Are small pumpkins OK to eat? But it turns out that […]

Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites. The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds. The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin. What were pumpkins once used for? Rather than using their nutritional and readily available seeds, pre-Columbian natives grew pumpkins for their flesh. They were among the first […]

Years ago, people believed that pumpkins could cure freckles and snakebites. Why are pumpkins called pumpkins? 3. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word Pepõn, which means large melon. It was then nasalized by the French into “pompo”, which the English changed “pompon” to “Pumpion,” and so on until American settlers arrived at the […]

You will know it is done when it is tender when pierced with a fork. Peel the pumpkin wedges leaving the soft pulp then mash. Keep out only what you will use within three to four days. Put the rest of the cooked pumpkin in rigid containers (leaving ½ inch headspace) then label, date and […]

In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling. Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites. Does pumpkin remove freckles? Have freckles or a snake bite? Pumpkins were once recommended for removal of freckles and curing snake bites! As far as size […]

The skin of a pumpkin will be hard when the pumpkin is ripe. Use a fingernail and gently try to puncture the pumpkin’s skin. If the skin dents but doesn’t puncture, the pumpkin is ready to pick. Which type of pumpkin is sweet? sugar pumpkinsAlso called pie pumpkins or sweet pumpkins, sugar pumpkins are smaller, […]