Pumped About Pumpkins! Amazing Cool Facts and Trivia

Many people enjoy getting together to carve pumpkins for Halloween or attending pumpkin festivals to celebrate their harvest. Who doesn't have a fond memory when it comes to pumpkin pie and the holidays? School children take field trips to pumpkin patches and every autumn we see roadside farm stands selling pumpkins. But pumpkins are more than just decorative items and a key ingredient to some tasty holiday cooking, they are an interesting fruit. Here are some cool facts about pumpkins and I bet you didn't know them all.

Pumpkins are really squash.

Pumpkins are really a fruit.

A munchkin is really a variety of pumpkin.

Pumpkin ridges are called ribs.

Antarctica is the only continent pumpkins can't grown in.

One cup of pumpkin puree has zero cholesterol.

The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,469 pounds
The world's largest pumpkin pie weighed 2,020 pounds and measured more than 12 feet! It took 5 hours to bake and produced over 3000 slices!

Pumpkins are not just orange, you can find pumpkins that are green, yellow, red, white, blue, even tan!

Pumpkins have been grown in America for over 5,000 years.

Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October.

Pumpkins are loaded with vitamins A and B and potassium.

Pumpkins are 90% water.

Pumpkin seeds were used for medicine by Native American Indians.

Pumpkin flowers are edible.

Pumpkins are a good source of fiber.

When it comes to the pumpkin market, Libby takes the cake. Approximately 5,000 acres of Select Dickinson pumpkins are planted each year exclusively for LIBBY'S.

LIBBY'S Pumpkin is canned the same day it is harvested.

Canned pumpkin, scooped into a plastic food storage container, will keep up to three months in the freezer.

There is an annual pumpkin throwing competition called Punkin Chuckin'. It takes place in Morton Illinois and the throwing is done by big mechanical throwers. They are Pumpkin Modulators that are like air cannons.

Pumpkins can be boiled, steamed, roasted, broiled, baked and microwaved.

Pumpkin seed oil has a strong nutty flavor and is sometimes used combined with other oils to make salad dressings and other cooking oils.

According to the Nestle Company pumpkin is the only fruit or vegetable to contain three different carotenoids - beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lutein - which protect against heart disease, cancer and may even help slow the aging process.

There is a professional pumpkin carving artist who creates sculptured masterpieces called grumpkins.

According to the University of Illinois, 90 percent of the pumpkins grown in the United States are raised within a 90-mile radius of Peoria, Illinois.

Morton, near Peoria in central Illinois, is the self-proclaimed Pumpkin Capital of the World.

According to The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department. the mature and immature fruit of the pumpkin are generally edible. However, most of the commercially produced pumpkins are used for decorative purposes.

The University of Georgia College Agricultural Department also says Pumpkins and gourds stored below 50 degrees F are subject to chilling injury, which can cause rotting.

A study by the USDA indicated that diets high in pumpkin as a fiber source tended to curb the appetite. The subjects in this study also absorbed less fat and calories from their food.

Pumpkins are used as feed for some farm animals

Pumpkin seeds are full of iron, zinc, calcium and magnesium.

You can read the United States Department of Agriculture's grading manual for Canned Pumpkin by downloading this PDF file

http://www.ams.usda.gov/fv/ppbweb/manuals/cnpumpkn.pdf

It gives interesting insight of the whole process between harvesting and canning and marketing pumpkins and what standards are applied to them.

Canning Pumpkin Butter and Mashed or Pureed Squashes is not recommended according to a food safety specialist

http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/current/FDNS-E-P.html

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is studying pumpkins for their value in fighting depression and kidney stones.

Here's a cool recipe for a SMASHING PUMPKIN MARTINI
http://www.epicurious.com/drinking/drink_views/views/200308

Here's a recipe for Pumpkin Wine for home wine makers

http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/pumpkinwine.htm

Here are some other fun pumpkin links to explore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Giant

http://www.geocities.com/sogpg/

http://www.pumpkinfest.org/

http://www.grumpkins.com