Pumpkin world is considered the special part of culture in some countries and you may see many stories are attached with pumpkin as a symbol. Pumpkin is one of plants in Cucurbita pepo genus. It was believed to native to North America. There was evidence showed that this fruit appeared in Mexico around 7000-5500 years BC.
In the pumpkin world and also the vegetable and fruit, pumpkin fruit could be considered as one of the largest in the fruit family. The largest one was known from US which reaching the weight to ton, a huge fruit. Pumpkin is widely cultivated and used in many countries. In US and UK, pumpkin is the round orange fruit of winter squash. While in other areas, it could be used to point out any other types of winter squash.
Pumpkin and some features
Pumpkin has the vine stem and hairy leaves. Its fruit is mostly in big size, with thick rind and pulp when ripen, and numbers of seed. Pumpkin rind generally turns to orange when ripen. This orange pumpkin is also the most popular type in US, UK and many other countries. However, there are other types of this fruit with other color like dark green or deep yellow.
All parts of the pumpkin are edible. The fruit could be eaten as mature or immature. Besides, the young stems, leaves and flower could also be used as vegetable.
For the nutrition content, this fruit is a rich source of nutrients and minerals such as Vitamin A, C, potassium, dietary fiber, manganese. Besides, it’s also rich in folate, B1, B3, B5, B6 and other nutrients.
Pumpkin and squash
In the pumpkin world, sometimes it is easy to be confused between pumpkin and squash. Squash includes winter and summer squash, and pumpkin is type of winter squash. Mostly squash stem are softer and more rounded compared with the pumpkin. However they are used interchangeably.
Related to winter and summer squash
One interesting point of these types is that “winter” and “summer” doesn’t mean the season quietly, but the time of storage when these fruit were harvested.
The winter squash (includes pumpkin) are harvested when they mature. Their rind becomes hard and tough then. And they could be stored for using through the winter. That’s why they are called winter squash.
The summer squash are different. They are harvested when immature. This squash rind is still edible for its tenderness. But then the storage would not be long as the winter squash.
Commonly, all of the squashes need to be cooked before eating.
Pumpkin and Halloween
Halloween is a famous festival of the western at the end of October every year. This festival is now popular around the world as an entertainment occasion than its origin meaning. Although there are many legends about the Halloween, one thing that indispensable is the pumpkin world.
We could easily wonder why Halloween always has pumpkin. Actually, in the stories, the fruits that were closely to this Festival were potato, radish or winter melon. But in reality, the pumpkin world was used instead for its shape could be easier to form to lantern. Besides, the pumpkin lantern will be shiner than the other fruit lanterns. Autumn is also the harvest season of pumpkin, one of the most popular fruit of western, especially US, UK. The pumpkin for those reasons, become one of the symbols of Halloween.
