· The name pumpkin comes from the Greek word ‘pepon’, meaning ‘large melon’.
· Scientifically speaking, pumpkins are fruits (they contain seeds) but when it comes to cooking, they are often referred to as vegetables.
· Giant pumpkins can be grown for competitions, with some weighing over 1000 pounds!
· Pumpkin plants feature both male and female flowers, which are pollinated by bees.
· As a food, pumpkin can be baked, roasted, steamed or boiled. Pumpkin soup is popular, as are roasted pumpkin seeds.
· Pumpkin pie is a sweet dessert that originated in North America.
· The earliest pumpkin pie made in America was quite different than the pumpkin pie we enjoy today. Pilgrims and early settlers made pumpkin pie by hollowing out a pumpkin, filling the shell with milk, honey and spices and baking it.
· The yellow-orange flowers that bloom on the pumpkin vine are edible.
· Early settlers dried pumpkins shells, cut it into strips and wove it into mats.
· Pumpkins are popular decorations during Halloween. A carved pumpkin illuminated by candles is known as a ‘jack-o-lantern’. The tradition is believed to have come from Ireland, where they used to carve faces into turnips, beet and other root vegetables as part of the Gaelic festival of Samhain.