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Pumpkin

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Food and agriculture

   Pumpkins
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   Pumpkins
   Pumpkin attached to a stalk
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   Pumpkin attached to a stalk

   A pumpkin is a squash fruit, usually orange in colour when ripe.
   Pumpkins grow as a gourd from a trailing vine of the genus Cucurbita
   Cucurbitaceae. Cultivated in North America, continental Europe, India
   and some other countries, as well as in English cottage gardens,
   Cucurbita varieties include Curcurbita pepo, Cucurbita maxima,
   Cucurbita mixta, or Cucurbita moschata — all plants native to the
   Western hemisphere. The pumpkin varies greatly in form, being sometimes
   nearly globular, but more generally oblong or ovoid in shape. The rind
   is smooth and variable in colour. The larger kinds acquire a weight of
   40 to 80 lb (18 to 36 kg) but smaller varieties are in vogue for garden
   culture. Pumpkins are a popular food, with their insides commonly eaten
   cooked and served in dishes such as pumpkin pie; the seeds can be
   roasted as a snack. Pumpkins are traditionally used to carve
   Jack-o'-lanterns for use as part of Halloween celebrations.

   Botanically it is a fruit, referring to a certain plant part which
   grows from a flower. However it is widely regarded as a vegetable in
   culinary terms, referring to how it is eaten.

   Butternut squash is called "butternut pumpkin" in Australia, and "neck
   pumpkin" in parts of Pennsylvania where it is commonly regarded as a
   pumpkin and used in similar ways to other pumpkin.

Cultivation

   Pumpkins have historically been pollinated by the native squash bee
   Peponapis pruinosa, but this bee has declined, probably due to
   pesticide sensitivity, and most commercial plantings are pollinated by
   honeybees today. One hive per acre (4,000 m² per hive) is recommended
   by the US Department of Agriculture. Gardeners with a shortage of bees,
   however, often have to hand pollinate.
   Pumpkins growing in a field.
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   Pumpkins growing in a field.

   Inadequately pollinated pumpkins usually start growing but abort before
   full development. Often there is an opportunistic fungus that the
   gardener blames for the abortion, but the solution to this problem of
   abortion tends to be better pollination rather than fungicide.

   Pumpkins are grown today in the US more for decoration than for food,
   and popular contests continually lead growers to vie for the world
   record for the largest pumpkin ever grown. Growers have many
   techniques, often secretive, including hand pollination, removal from
   the vines of all but one pumpkin, and injection of fertilizer or even
   milk directly into the vines with a hypodermic needle.
   Immature Female Pumpkin Flower
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   Immature Female Pumpkin Flower
   Pumpkin Flower (Open)
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   Pumpkin Flower (Open)

   Pumpkins have male and female flowers, the latter distinguished by the
   small ovary at the base of the petals. The flowers are short-lived and
   may open for as little as one day.

Chucking

   Pumpkin chucking is a competitive activity in which teams build various
   mechanical devices designed to throw a pumpkin as far as possible.
   Catapults, trebuchets, ballistas and air cannons are the most common
   mechanisms. Some pumpkin chuckers grow special varieties of pumpkin,
   which are bred and grown under special conditions intended to improve
   the pumpkin's chances of surviving being thrown.

Pumpkin seeds

   Seeds from a pumpkin.
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   Seeds from a pumpkin.

   The hulless or semi-hulless seeds of pumpkins can be roasted and eaten
   as a snack, similar to the sunflower seed. The seeds are often prepared
   by separation from orange pumpkin flesh, mixture with a generally salty
   sauce ( Worcestershire sauce, for example), even distribution on a
   baking sheet, and oven-heating at a relatively low temperature for a
   long period of time. They are a good source of essential fatty acids,
   potassium, and magnesium. In Latin America, the seeds are often
   greenish in colour and known as pepitas. One of the typical pumpkin
   products of Austria is pumpkin seed oil.

Cooking

   When ripe, the pumpkin can be boiled, baked, and roasted, or made into
   various kinds of pie, alone or mixed with other fruit; while small and
   green it may be eaten in the same way as the vegetable marrow. It can
   also be eaten mashed at autumn holidays or incorporated into soup (
   Sample Recipe). When you pour milk in a pumpkin and bake it, it makes
   pudding.

Pumpkin trivia

   A pumpkin carved into a Jack-o'-lantern for Halloween.
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   A pumpkin carved into a Jack-o'-lantern for Halloween.
     * The pumpkin is related to the zucchini (courgette).
     * Pumpkin growers often compete to see whose pumpkins are the most
       massive. Festivals dedicated to the pumpkin and these competitions
       are relatively widespread and some form tourist attractions in
       their own right, for example in Half Moon Bay, California.
     * The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,469 lb (666 kg). Raised by
       Larry Checkon from Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania in 2005, it is
       technically a " squash," Cucurbita maxima, and was of the public
       variety " Atlantic Giant," which is the "giant" variety -
       culminated from the simple hubbard squash by enthusiast farmers
       through intermittent effort since the mid 1800's. However, this
       record is being challenged by Ron Wallace of Rhode Island, who
       raised an alleged 1,502 pound pumpkin in 2006 .
     * Pumpkins are orange because they contain massive amounts of lutein,
       alpha- and beta- carotene. These nutrients turn to vitamin A in the
       body.
     * Using pumpkins as lanterns at Halloween is based on an ancient
       Celtic custom brought to America by Irish immigrants. All Hallows
       Eve on 31 October marked the end of the old Celtic calendar year,
       and on that night hollowed-out turnips, beets and rutabagas with a
       candle inside were placed on windowsills and porches to welcome
       home spirits of deceased ancestors and ward off evil spirits and a
       restless soul called "Stingy Jack," hence the name
       "Jack-o'-lantern".
     * The city of Boston, Massachusetts currently holds the world record
       for most lit pumpkins in one area: 30,128, set on October 21 2006,
       beating out the previous record of 28,952 set in Keene, New
       Hampshire in 2003.
     * Illinois produces more pumpkins than any other state in the United
       States; Michigan is a distant second.
     * Pumpkins were among the first foods from the "New World" adopted in
       Europe, probably due to a European cousin: Lagenaria
     * "Pumpkin" is sometimes used as an affectionate term, often
       referring to one's significant other. For example: "I love you,
       Pumpkin."
     * The pumpkin is the state fruit of New Hampshire.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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