Pumpkin

For other uses, see Pumpkin (disambiguation).

Pumpkin
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Cucurbitales Family: Cucurbitaceae Genus: Cucurbita spp. L.
Species
C. maxima C. mixta C. moschata C. pepo

Pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae (which also includes gourds).Integrated Taxonomic Information System It can refer to either species Cucurbita pepo or Cucurbita mixta, and sometimes to a specific variety of either the species Cucurbita maxima or Cucurbita moschata.

Contents 1 Description 2 Taxonomy 3 Distribution and Habitation 4 Ecology 4.1 Cultivation in the US 4.2 Giant Pumpkins 5 Uses 5.1 Cooking 5.2 Pumpkin seeds 5.2.1 Pumpkin seed oil 6 Activities involving pumpkins 6.1 Halloween 6.2 Chucking 6.3 Pumpkin festivals and competitions 7 See also 8 Gallery 9 References 10 External links

Description

Since some squash share the same botanical classifications as pumpkins, the names are frequently used interchangeably. In general, pumpkins have stems which are firmer, more rigid, pricklier, have +/- a 5 degree angle, and are squarer in shape than squash stems which are generally softer, more rounded, and more flared where joined to the fruit. cucurbitaceae. (1995). In Van Nostrand\'s Scientific Encyclopedia (8th ed.). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. pumpkin. (1992). In The Encyclopedia Americana International Edition. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier Incorporated.

Pumpkins generally weigh 9–18 lbs (4–8 kg) with the largest (of the species C. maxima) capable of reaching a weight of over 75 lbs (34 kg). pumpkin. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 28, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9061895. The pumpkin varies greatly in shape, ranging from oblate through oblong. The rind is smooth and usually lightly ribbed. Although pumpkins are usually orange or yellow, some fruits are dark green, pale green, orange-yellow, white, red and gray.Pumpkin Nook: Color Me Pumpkin.

Pumpkins are angiosperms, having both male and female flowers, the latter distinguished by the small ovary at the base of the petals. These bright and colorful flowers have extremely short life spans, and may only open for as short a time as one day.^{[citation needed]} The color of pumpkins is derived from the orange pigments abundant in them. The main nutrients are lutein, and both alpha- and beta- carotene. Their purpose is to generate vitamin A in the body.^{[citation needed]}

Taxonomy

A pumpkin stem

Pumpkin is the fruit of the species Cucurbita pepo or Cucurbita mixta. It can refer to a specific variety of the species Cucurbita maxima or Cucurbita moschata, which are all of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae.

In Korea and Japan, the word translating to "pumpkin" (but more accurately referring to the black C. moschata squashes) is used as a slang term for an unattractive woman. In the American South and Midwest, however, the term "pumpkin" is sometimes used as an endearment.

Distribution and Habitation

Although native to the Western hemisphere, pumpkins are cultivated in North America, continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India and some other countries.^{[citation needed]} The pumpkin is the state fruit of New Hampshire.

Ecology

Cultivation in the US

Main article: Pumpkin cultivation

Pumpkins growing in a field

Pumpkin Field

Pumpkins have historically been pollinated by the native squash bee Peponapis pruinosa, but this bee has declined, probably due to pesticide sensitivity, and today most commercial plantings are pollinated by honeybees. One hive per acre (4,000 m² per hive) is recommended by the United States of America (US) Department of Agriculture. If there are inadequate bees for pollination, gardeners often have to hand pollinate. Inadequately pollinated pumpkins usually start growing but abort before full development. An opportunistic fungus is also sometimes blamed for abortions.

Giant Pumpkins

Pumpkins are capable of growing extremely large with the proper attention and care. The world record pumpkin weighs 1689 lbs PumpkinNook (n.d.) World Record Giant Pumpkin. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from http://pumpkinnook.com/giants/giantpumpkins.htm . The 2007 record pumpkin was grown in Rhode Island and weighed at the Topsfield Fair GPC in Topsfield, Massachusetts . The growth of enormous pumpkins is being cultivated by hybridizing their seeds^{[citation needed]}.

The largest pumpkins are Cucurbita maxima. They were culminated from the hubbard squash genotype, crossed with kabocha-pumpkin types by enthusiast farmers through intermittent effort since the early 1800s. As such germplasm is commercially provocative, a U.S. legal right was granted for the rounder phenotypes, levying them as constituting a variety, with the appellation "Atlantic Giant." Processually this phenotype graduated back into the public domain, except now it had the name Atlantic Giant on its record (see USDA PVP # 8500204).

Uses

Cooking

Pumpkin, raw Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 10 kcal   60 kJ
Carbohydrates     6.5 g - Sugars  1.36 g - Dietary fiber  0.5 g   Fat 0.1 g - saturated  0.05 g - monounsaturated  0.01 g   - polyunsaturated  0.01 g   Protein 1.0 g Vitamin A equiv.  369 μg  41% - β-carotene  3100 μg  29% Thiamin (Vit. B1)  0.05 mg   4% Riboflavin (Vit. B2)  0.110 mg   7% Niacin (Vit. B3)  0.6 mg   4% Pantothenic acid (B5)  0.298 mg  6% Vitamin B6  0.061 mg 5% Folate (Vit. B9)  16 μg  4% Vitamin C  9 mg 15% Vitamin E  1.06 mg 7% Calcium  21 mg 2% Iron  0.8 mg 6% Magnesium  12 mg 3%  Phosphorus  44 mg 6% Potassium  340 mg   7% Sodium  1 mg 0% Zinc  0.32 mg 3%
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient database

When ripe, the pumpkin is very versatile. It can be boiled, baked, or roasted. Often, it is made into various kinds of pie which is a traditional staple of the Canadian and American Thanksgiving holiday. Pumpkins that are still small and green may be eaten in the same way as the vegetable marrow/zucchini. Pumpkins can also be eaten mashed or incorporated into soup. In the Middle East, pumpkin is used for sweet dishes; a well-known sweet delicacy is called halawa yaqtin. In South Asian countries like India, pumpkin is cooked with butter, sugar, and spices; this dish is called kadu ka halwa. In Australia, pumpkin is often roasted in conjunction with other vegetables. In Japan, small pumpkins are served in savory dishes, including tempura. In Thailand, small pumpkins are steamed with custard inside and served as a dessert. Finally, pumpkin can be used to flavor both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.

Pumpkin seeds

Main article: Pepita

Removing the white hull of the pumpkin seed reveals an edible, green-colored seed inside. These hulled or semi-hulled seeds can be roasted and eaten as a snack (also known as pepitas), similar to sunflower seeds.

Pumpkin seeds are a good source of iron, zinc, essential fatty acids, potassium, and magnesium.^{[citations needed]}

One gram of pumpkin seed protein contains as much tryptophan as a full glass of milk."New Study Demonstrates Treatment of Anxiety Disorders using Pumpkin Seed"

Multiplying the number of fruiting sections in a field pumpkin (C. pepo variety) by 16 gives roughly the number of seeds in the pumpkin (give or take 10 or so).^{[dubious – discuss]} Guessing the number of seeds in the pumpkin is a game sometimes played by children.^{[citation needed]}

Pumpkin seed oil

Main article: Pumpkin seed oil

The oil of pumpkin seeds, used in cooking in central and eastern Europe, and long believed to be a folk remedy for prostate problems, has in fact been shown to combat benign prostatic hyperplasia.World\'s Healthiest Foods

Activities involving pumpkins

Halloween

A pumpkin carved into a Jack-o\'-lantern for Halloween.

Pumpkins are commonly carved into decorative lanterns called jack-o\'-lanterns for the Halloween season in North America.

Throughout Britain and Ireland, there is a long tradition of carving lanterns from vegetables, particularly the turnip, mangelwurzel, or swede.They continue to be popular choices today as carved lanterns in Scotland and Northern Ireland, although the British purchased a million pumpkins for Halloween in 2004. "Pumpkins Passions", BBC, 31 October 2005. Retrieved on 19 October 2006. "Turnip battles with pumpkin for Hallowe\'en", BBC, 28 October 2005. Retrieved 23 September 2007. But not until 1837 does jack-o\'-lantern appear as a term for a carved vegetable lantern,Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Great Carbuncle," in Twice-Told Tales, 1837:

Hide it [the great carbuncle] under thy cloak, say\'st thou? Why, it will gleam through the holes, and make thee look like a jack-o\'-lantern! and the carved lantern does not become associated specifically with Halloween until 1866.Daily News (Kingston, Ontario), November 1, 1866:

The old time custom of keeping up Hallowe\'en was not forgotten last night by the youngsters of the city. They had their maskings and their merry-makings, and perambulated the streets after dark in a way which was no doubt amusing to themselves. There was a great sacrifice of pumpkins from which to make transparent heads and face, lighted up by the unfailing two inches of tallow candle.

Agnes Carr Sage, "Halloween Sports and Customs," Harper\'s Young People, October 27, 1885, p. 828:

It is an ancient Scottish custom to light great bonfires on Halloween, and carry blazing fagots about on long poles; but in place of this American boys delight in the funny grinning jack-o\'-lanterns made of huge yellow pumpkins with a candle inside. Significantly, both occurred not in Britain or Ireland, but in North America. Historian David J. Skal writes,

Although every modern chronicle of the holiday repeats the claim that vegetable lanterns were a time-honored component of Halloween celebrations in the British Isles, none gives any primary documentation. In fact, none of the major nineteenth-century chronicles of British holidays and folk customs make any mention whatsoever of carved lanterns in connection with Halloween. Neither do any of the standard works of the early twentieth century.Skal, David J. (2002). Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween. New York: Bloomsbury, 32. ISBN 1-58234-230-X.  The earliest reference to associate carved vegetable lanterns with Halloween in Britain is Ruth Edna Kelley, The Book of Hallowe\'en (1919), Chapter 8, which mentions turnip lanterns in Scotland.

In America, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became an emblem of Halloween.As late as 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o\'-lantern as part of the festivities. "The Day We Celebrate: Thanksgiving Treated Gastronomically and Socially," The New York Times, Nov. 24, 1895, p. 27. "Odd Ornaments for Table," The New York Times, Oct. 21, 1900, p. 12.

On Halloween night, Linus Van Pelt of the comic strip Peanuts waits in a pumpkin patch for "the Great Pumpkin", a fictional pumpkin which has many of Santa Claus\'s characteristics. It seems, however, to exist only in his imagination.

Chucking

Pumpkin chucking is a competitive activity in which teams build various mechanical devices designed to throw a pumpkin as far as possible. Catapults, trebuchets, ballistas and air cannons are the most common mechanisms. Some pumpkin chuckers breed and grow special varieties of pumpkin under specialized conditions in order to improve the pumpkin\'s chances of surviving a throw.

Pumpkin festivals and competitions

Competitive Weight Pumpkins

Pumpkin growers often compete to see whose pumpkins are the most massive. Festivals are often dedicated to the pumpkin and these competitions.

Circleville, Ohio, holds a big festival each year, the Circleville Pumpkin Show. Half Moon Bay, California, holds the annual Pumpkin and Arts Festival, drawing over 250,000 visitors each year and including the World Champion Pumpkin Weigh-Off.[1]History of Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival Farmers from all over the west compete to determine who can grow the greatest gourd [2]Gargantuan Gourd Weigh-Off. The winning pumpkin regularly tops the scale at more than 1200 pounds. (The world record pumpkin in 2007 was grown by Joe Jutras in Topsfield, Massachusetts.Pumpkin Nook : Everything about pumpkins, growing pumpkins, pumpkin seeds, Halloween, recipes, facts, history, fun and games and more!) Morton, Illinois, the self-declared pumpkin capital of the world,Morton Pumpkin Festival has held a Pumpkin Festival since 1966. The town, where Nestlé\'s pumpkin packing plant is located (and where 90% of canned pumpkins eaten in the US are processed) carved and lit pumpkins in one place, a record which the town held for several years before losing it to Boston, Massachusetts in 2006. A large contributor of pumpkins to the festival is local Keene State College which hosts an event called "Pumpkin Lobotomy" on their main quad. Usually held the day before the festival itself, Pumpkin Lobotomy has the air of a large party, with the school providing pumpkins and carving instruments alike (though some students prefer to use their own) and music provided by college radio station, WKNH.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Pumpkin

• Pumpkin Fest
• Pumpkin Queens
• Pepitas
• Vegetable juice
• List of culinary fruits

Gallery

Pumpkin with stalk.jpg Pumpkin attached to a stalk	Common "Giant" Pumpkin variety	Immature Female Pumpkin Flower	Male Pumpkin Flower (Open)
Painted pumpkins.jpg Painted mini pumpkins on display in Ottawa, Canada	Keene pumpkin festival 1.jpg A few of the tens of thousands of pumpkins on display at the 2000 Keene Pumpkin Fest

References

• Pumpkin seeds on The worlds Healthiest Foods, The George Mateljan Foundation.
• Illinois Leads Nation in Pumpkin Production, Illinois Department of Agriculture.
• The Largest Pumpkin Ever, bigpumpkins.com.
• Keene Pumpkin Festival, list of world records.

External links

• Squash Display at Missouri Botanical Garden - Pics of 150 varieties from The Great Pumpkin Patch, Arthur, IL
• Pumpkin Varieties - backyardgardener.com, site focused on North-Eastern U.S.
• April 2004 – In season describes several varieties available in Australia.
• Pumpkins - Lots and lots of Varieties! - American pumpkin varieties, arranged by species.
• Pumpkin Recipes - Recipe suggestions for pumpkins.
• Pumpkin Carving

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