10 Things You Never Knew About Pumpkins
It's that time of year, when pumpkins start lining up on neighbors' doorsteps, pop-up patches appear on roadsides for kids to romp in, and bins of pumpkins abound at grocery stores. While you may not give them much thought beyond purees, pies, and Jack o' Lanterns, pumpkins actually have a pretty cool history that goes back thousands of years — and over 5,000 years just in North America.
Did you know...
1. The name "pumpkin" originated from pepon, the Greek word for "large melon."
Pepon was nasalized by the French into pompon, which was then changed by the English into pumpion, which later became "pumpkin" via American colonists.
2. Pumpkins belong to the Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family.
Pumpkins are a type of winter squash and are related to zucchini, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes, and luffas.
3. Pumpkins are believed to have originated in Central America.
Seeds from related squash plants have been found in Mexico, dating back to 5500 BC.
4. The pumpkin pie as we know it today did not start out that way.
Early European settlers cut off the tops, hollowed out the shells, and filled them with milk, honey and spices before baking them in hot ashes.
5. Jack o' Lanterns came to America by way of the Irish.
The tradition originally started with the carving of turnips, potatoes, rutabagas, and beets, with a light placed inside them to ward off evil spirits. When Irish immigrants arrived in America, they found that pumpkins were not only bigger, but also easier to carve.
6. The U.S. produces 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins every year.
The top pumpkin-producing states are Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California.
7. Mortion, Illinois, is the self-proclaimed "Pumpkin Capital of the World."
The town is home to the Libby's pumpkin processing plant, where over 85% of the world's pumpkin is canned every fall.
8. The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed in at 2,032 pounds.
It took 105 days for the world's largest pumpkin to beat the world record set by the previous pumpkin champ (which weighed 2,009 pounds). Growers Tim and Susan Mathison of California took the title in 2013.
9. The world's largest pumpkin pie weighed in at 3,699 pounds.
The pie was prepared and baked in Ohio by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers in 2010 (beating their own world record of 2,020 pounds, set in 2005). The reigning champ of pumpkin pies was 20 feet in diameter and used 1,212 pounds of canned pumpkin, 233 dozen eggs, 109 gallons of evaporated milk, 25 pounds of sugar, 7 pounds of salt, and 14 1/2 pounds of cinnamon.
10. Every part of the pumpkin plant is edible.
You can eat the leaves, flowers, flesh, and seeds.