Pumpkin season has arrived. You'll find pumpkins in the grocery stores and of course the Halloween pumpkin patches. You'll sit them on your porch and carve them into Jack O'Lanterns, but pumpkins are much more versatile than we give them credit.
For thousands of years pumpkins have been a food staple and today pumpkin is used in many seasonal dishes and desserts. The pumpkin has an interesting history and is connected to a few unusual folk tales. Learning about the pumpkin and its origins is an interesting side note to fall and Halloween.
The name pumpkin, derived from the Greek word pepon, meaning large melon. From pepon the name changed many times as the French and then the English each put there own pronunciation to the original pepon. By the time the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, pepon and become pumpion. Once in American, the name would evolve one more time becoming Pumpkin, the name we know today.
Pumpkins are an annual fruit, believed to originate in the Americas somewhere around 7000 B.C. These early fruits were valued mostly for their edible seeds but the flesh of the pumpkin was considered a main food source. The pumpkin was roasted raw and eaten right off the fire or dried for later use. Some pumpkin was even dried and woven into mats.
The seeds eventually moved north carried by these early people to North America and that's where the first domesticated pumpkins were discovered by the pilgrims. The pilgrims quickly realized the value of pumpkins and soon started growing their own. The pumpkin became an important food source for the Pilgrims. From the settlers, Pumpkin seeds were sent across the ocean to England. Today pumpkins are grown world wide.
Pumpkin was considered a versatile fruit and the settlers used pumpkin for many different dishes including stews, soups and desserts. The seeds were roasted and eaten. Pumpkin pie is believed to have started out as a hollowed out pumpkin, filled with milk, spices and honey, and then baked in hot ash. The pumpkin shell was considered the crust.
Good Old Jack
The tradition of the Jack O' Lantern did not become popular in America until the late 1800's when the Irish brought the legend of Stingy Jack from their country. Stingy Jack was a lowly no account, that tricked the devil many times before his death. When that time finally came he was turned away from the Pearly Gates and the Devil would have nothing to do with him either; so with nowhere to go, Jack roamed the earth with only a hollowed out vegetable, containing a coal from hell, to light his way as he endlessly wandered the earth. This was the original Jacks Lantern which later became Jack O'Lantern. The Jack O'Lantern was used to ward away Jack, as well as, evil spirits.
The original Jack O' Lanterns of Ireland were hollowed out beets, potatoes, turnips and gourds. The Irish and Americans alike soon found the pumpkin a much better host for the hot coals, and later candles, used to welcome deceased loved ones and ward off the evil spirits on All Hallows Eve night. The pumpkin and Jack O'Lantern were not truly popular until their introduction into folklore with the The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.
Another lesser known legend associated with a pumpkin derived from a legend from India. In this legend, a devoted father used a large pumpkin as a tomb for his only son. In time, the pumpkin became filled with water in which swam large fish. Intent on harvesting the fish, four brothers lifted the pumpkin to carry it away but soon became scared and dropped the pumpkin. The pumpkin cracked, releasing a flood of water poured out to engulf the earth.
The pumpkin gained a huge following when portrayed as a golden coach for Cinderella. Peter the Pumpkin Eater confined his wandering wife in a large pumpkin shell and who can forget Linus waiting patiently in the pumpkin patch year after year for the Great Pumpkin?
What is a Pumpkin?
Pumpkins are related to cucumbers, winter squash and gourds; a member of the genus Cucurbita. This genus is an annual fruit growing vine, though pumpkins are generally thought of as vegetables. Pumpkins range is size from the smallest, Jack-Be-Little, which can fit in the palm of your hand to Atlantic Giant that has continually grown world record pumpkins generally weighing over 1000 pounds. The average pumpkin is between 5 and 20 pounds and has orange skin and flesh. These pumpkins are grown not only for Jack O'Lanterns but for fresh and canned preparations.
Today, pumpkins are still popular for the Jack O' Lanterns but an estimated 85 % of pumpkins are canned leaving 15% for Jack O' Lanterns and other uses. Pumpkin production has reached an all time high. In 2004 an estimated 998 million pounds of Pumpkins were produced in states such as Illinois, California, Ohio, Michigan, and New York. Illinois led the way, producing a whopping 457 million pounds of pumpkin, more than double of any other single state.
