B2 THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2022
HOME & LIVING
Pumpkin season doesn’t end with Halloween
WENDY
SCHMIDT
BETWEEN THE ROWS
A frequent sight throughout
towns in late October are porch
personalities: bright orange
jack-o’-lanterns. Many are jolly,
sporting toothy grins.
Some pumpkins are more
edible than others. The huge
pumpkins tend to be more fi-
brous and less tasty. If you want
to eat it as a winter squash or
make a pie from it, try a smaller
pumpkin that is heavy for its
size (called sugar, pie, or sweet
pumpkins).
National Pumpkin Day was
Oct. 26.
Pumpkins are native to North
America (specifically Mexico)
and have been growing here for
over 9,000 years. Ancient peo-
ples were growing pumpkins
before they started growing
beans or corn. As soon as they
grew all three crops, they used
the “three sisters method.” The
corn stalks served as a trellis for
the beans. The beans helped
support and anchor the corn in
the wind. Pumpkins and other
squash spread out and the leaves
shaded the shallow roots of the
corn and deterred weeds.
The Irish had a tradition of
carving lantern out of root veg-
etables. It was a lot of trouble
hollowing them out. When im-
migrants came to America, they
found pumpkins a better lan-
tern choice.
Botanically in the cucur-
bita or squash family, you’ll
find pumpkins: C. Pepo, C.
Moschata, C. Maxima, and C.
Mixta. Pumpkin is a fruit, tech-
nically a berry. Every part of the
pumpkin plant is edible: skin,
meat, leaves, flowers, stems, and
seeds.
The United States produces
610,120 tonnes of pumpkins per
year. China produces 8,427,676
tonnes. Illinois produces as
much as the rest of the states,
and Morton, Illinois, is the
pumpkin capital of the USA and
is the location of Libby’s, which
produces 85% of the world’s
canned pumpkin.
To grow pumpkins, plant
seeds on a mound of fertile soil
in a sunny location. This gives
you good drainage. Plant in late
May or the first week of June, as
they take 90 to 120 days to grow
and mature.
Pumpkins are a good source
of potassium, vitamin A, and
beta carotene. As a winter-type
squash, pumpkins keep up to
three months intact, but after
you cut them, they keep two to
three days (longer if refrigerated
or outdoors in cold weather).
Almost all pumpkins ripen
and get harvested in October.
This is very convenient for Hal-
loween and in November for
pumpkin pie and pumpkin
bread, pumpkin cheesecake and
other desserts.
A favorite pumpkin pie rec-
ipe requires only a bottom crust,
and the pumpkin custard (mix
all ingredients together well,
then pour into the raw crust):
2 cups pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
dash of salt
1 large can evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon vanilla.
Bake at 350F (glass pan 325F)
until the middle is almost set
(45 minutes or so).
The Irish legend of the jack-
o’-lantern: Stingy Jack was ar-
guing with the devil, trying to
get him to pay his bar tab. This
angered the devil so much that
after Jack died, he condemned
him to an eternity of wandering
the earth every night with a lan-
tern made out of a hollowed out
turnip. When Irish immigrants
came to America, the pump-
kin became a natural choice to
use as a lantern, being essen-
tially hollow and easier to use
as a lantern. The jack-o’-lantern
used to be a turnip in Ireland.
█
The Observer, File
A pumpkin rests in a field at Pick’n Patch in Cove on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021.
Wendy Schmidt is a longtime gardener
who has been a Master Gardener since
1997. She lives in La Grande.
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