Pumpkins for pies and more
Rhonda Gordon, Special to the Gazette
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
It’s fall and thoughts turn to pumpkin pie and to Halloween jack-o’-lanterns. My family hasn’t made its annual trip to the Roga Pumpkin Patch, but we are making plans to get there soon.
Can you use a pumpkin for both a jack-o’-lantern and for eating? Young children can enjoy creating jack-o’-lanterns by drawing the eyes and mouth on the pumpkins using markers. They can be creative and have a good time and the pumpkin is still safe for eating.
About 99 percent of the pumpkins marketed are used for jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween. Pumpkins, a member of the squash family, generally vary in size from a diameter of 8 to 14 inches, although certain varieties grow much larger and can weigh up to several hundred pounds.
For pie filling and other cooking needs, sugar pumpkins — a smaller variety with closed-grained flesh — are better. There are four types of pumpkins:
• “Cheese” pumpkins, for eating.
• “Stock” pumpkins, to feed livestock and make jack-o’-lanterns.
• “Giant” pumpkins.
• “Ornamental” pumpkins.
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