Morning Ag Clips logo
  • Subscribe ❯
  • PORTAL ❯
  • LOGIN ❯
  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe to our
    daily email
    ❯
  • Portal Registration❯
  • Login❯
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Morning Ag Clips

  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
Home » Autumn is pumpkin time
specialty crops
PUMPKINS ...

Autumn is pumpkin time

Pumpkins have grown in North America for more than 5,000 years

PUBLISHED ON October 15, 2021

Today, consumer demand drives plant breeders to focus on ornamental appeal rather than table quality. (Matt Batchelor, Flickr/Creative Commons)

COLUMBIA, Mo. — “This fall, millions of Americans will make an annual pilgrimage to a retail outlet to purchase a vegetable they, unfortunately, are unlikely to eat,” said University of Missouri Extension horticulturist David Trinklein.

In the United States, this colorful member of the gourd family sells mainly for decoration. But this verse from about 1630 suggests that American colonists relied heavily on pumpkin for food:

For pottage and puddings and custard and pies,
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies:
We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon,
If it were not for pumpkins, we should be undoon.

One way American colonists prepared pumpkins was to remove the seeds, fill the inside with milk, spices and honey, and bake the pumpkin in hot ashes, Trinklein said.

Today, consumer demand drives plant breeders to focus on ornamental appeal rather than table quality. Modern pumpkins mature into a deep orange color much earlier, and most varieties now bear a large stem that can serve as a convenient handle. Another new development is pumpkins with rinds covered with warts, which can make jack-o’-lanterns look more ghoulish.

When selecting a pumpkin for fall decoration, use the “thumbnail test” to make sure it’s fully mature. If you can pierce the rind with your thumbnail, the pumpkin will not store well.

Pumpkin is high in beta carotene, a red-orange pigment that the body converts into vitamin A. It is also a good source of dietary fiber. The spices used in pumpkin pie have health benefits of their own. “Not many people could tolerate taking allspice directly to benefit from its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and stomach-calming properties,” Trinklein said. “However, consumed in a piece of pumpkin pie, it tastes rather delightful.”

Trinklein offers some “pun”-kin trivia for those who “orange” ready for pumpkin season yet:

• Pumpkins have grown in North America for more than 5,000 years.

• Morton, Ill., the self-proclaimed “Pumpkin Capital of the World,” hosts an annual Punkin Chuckin’ Contest in which competitors use elaborate mechanical devices to lob pumpkins across great distances.

• According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest pumpkin ever grown weighed 2,624 pounds, more than some subcompact cars. The gargantuan gourd was grown in 2016 by Mathias Willemijns of Belgium.

• Guinness World Records gives the title of largest pumpkin pie to a confection made in 2010 at the New Bremen Pumpkinfest in Ohio. The pie weighed 3,699 pounds and measured 20 feet in diameter.

• At the first Thanksgiving in 1621, the Pilgrims probably did not serve pumpkin pie. Instead, they made pumpkin stew.

Source: David Trinklein, 573-882-9631

— Linda Geist, University of Missouri Extension

For more news from Missouri, click here.

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

How to keep your jack-o’-lantern from turning into moldy, maggoty mush before Halloween
October 11, 2022

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For many Americans, pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns mean that fall is here. In anticipation, coffee shops, restaurants and grocery stores start their pumpkin flavor promotions in late August, a month before autumn officially begins. And shoppers start buying fresh decorative winter produce, such as pumpkins and turban squash, in the hot, sultry days of […]

Dakota Gardener: The Great Pumpkin for North Dakota
October 27, 2021

FARGO, N.D. — Do you believe in the Great Pumpkin? Linus from the Peanuts cartoon believed. Instead of trick-or-treating with Charlie Brown, Linus spent every Halloween night in a pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear. The ghost never came, but Linus never stopped looking. Since 2009, a team of more than 100 […]

Va. grown pumpkins delivered to Executive Mansion
October 10, 2021

RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Pumpkin Growers Association presented Governor Ralph S. Northam and First Lady Pamela Northam with Virginia Grown pumpkins to decorate Virginia’s Executive Mansion for the fall season. The pumpkins were grown and delivered by William Fannon of Hickory Flats Pumpkin Patch in Pennington Gap, Virginia. Following the presentation, Governor Northam presented […]

Creative ways to use pumpkins this fall
October 05, 2021

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — From pumpkin spice lattes to harvest-themed front porches, pumpkins are an iconic staple for the fall. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts have some tips on how to use these popular gourds in and around your home. Odessa Keenan, AgriLife Extension program coordinator for the agency’s Dinner Tonight initiative, Bryan-College Station, said pumpkins are […]

48th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off is on!
September 29, 2021

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — No weigh? Weigh! Bring it on burly, beefy, bodacious behemoths! The excitement is building in Pumpkintown as the World’s Greatest Gourd Growers and their mind-blowing, Volkswagen-sized orange orbs hope to squash the world record on Monday, October 11 at the 48th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off — the “Super Bowl […]

Spread the word

Browse More Clips

AgTech NEXT 2021 concludes with a focus on the impact of climate change on food security

Missouri Livestock Symposium names Dr. David Patterson as inaugural Achievement Award recipient

Primary Sidebar

MORE

MISSOURI CLIPS

cattle on feed
CattleFax forecasts producer profitability in 2023
February 2, 2023
United Producers
United Producers Inc. scholarship application open
February 2, 2023
MU Extension launches 'Show-Me MO Success' podcast
February 2, 2023
Four SE Missouri cattle producers recognized
February 2, 2023
2022 Heritage Breed Microgrants awarded
February 2, 2023
  • Trending
  • Latest

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

Funding to improve seniors' access to locally grown foods
February 2, 2023
Two more events in the LERGP Winter Conference series
February 2, 2023
The economic impact of the National Watermelon Promotion Board
February 2, 2023
2023 Eastern NY Fruit and Vegetable Conference
February 2, 2023
Funding available to increase competitiveness of Del.’s specialty crops
February 1, 2023

Footer

MORNING AG CLIPS

  • Contact Us
  • Sponsors
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service

CONNECT WITH US

  • Like Us on Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

TRACK YOUR TRADE

  • Markets & Economy
  • Cattle Updates
  • Dairy News
  • Policy & Politics
  • Corn Alerts

QUICK LINKS

  • Account
  • Portal Membership
  • Just Me, Kate
  • Farmhouse Communication

Get the MAC App Today!

Get it on Google Play
Download on the App Store

© 2023 Morning Ag Clips, LLC. All Rights Reserved.