When you think of pumpkins, what comes to mind? Maybe fall, Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, Thanksgiving, Cinderella, trick-or-treating, or pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks? How about all of the above!
Right when the calendar hits that first day of fall (this year the official first day of autumn was Saturday, September 22, 2012), those pumpkins start popping up in the fields, land at stores, and are placed on porches. Between the leaves changing from green to yellow or orange and red, the temperature dropping, and Halloween and Thanksgiving, the time of fall has many lovable characteristics, with one definitely being that it is the season for pumpkins. Prime pumpkin picking season happens in autumn, and they are so appreciated for their aesthetically pleasing colors and different shapes and sizes.
Pumpkins are a squash-like fruit that can range in size, generally weighing between 9-18 pounds. Pumpkins are one of the most popular grown crops in the US—about 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced each year! In the US and Canada, pumpkins are extremely popular during Halloween (think carving pumpkins to make Jack-O-Lanterns and decorations!) and Thanksgiving (there are always pumpkin flavored desserts, and turkeys always go next to pumpkins in pictures!)
Pumpkins are also a popular food. Most parts of the pumpkin are edible, including the shell, seeds, leaves, and even the flowers. When a pumpkin is ripe, it can be boiled, baked, steamed, roasted, and made into soups and purees. Pumpkin seeds are also a very well liked snack. And don’t forget those pumpkin desserts. In the fall, pumpkin pie can be found all over the place, but that’s not the only dessert a pumpkin can turn into. Some other popular pumpkin desserts are pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin bar (think brownies, but instead of chocolate, it’s pumpkin!), pumpkin pudding, pumpkin flavored coffee, and the list goes on.
How about that pumpkin in Cinderella? Remember when Cinderella’s fairy godmother turns Cinderella into a beauty, and sends her off to the ball? Do you remember how Cinderella got to the ball? She arrived in a pumpkin! Well, sort of—her fairy godmother turned an average pumpkin into a beautiful coach, but you get the idea. And let us not forget how our favorite dog, Snoppy, is always posing with a pumpkin.
Now that it is well into fall, and you see pumpkins everywhere, you might be wondering how and why pumpkins became so popular. How did the phenomenon of the pumpkin truly start? You can thank the holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving for that, for they made the pumpkin fall’s unofficial mascot. The appearance of the pumpkin nicely blends in with one of fall’s colors, orange, but also the aroma and the taste of pumpkin are very comforting and fall-ish. When you smell a pumpkin candle, you think of fall. When you taste pumpkin pie, you think of fall. When you pass by Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks, and you see a sign saying pumpkin spice latte’s are back, you know it’s fall. Now go out, carve a pumpkin or get a pumpkin dessert, and enjoy fall!
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