The beauty of autumn enhances due to beautiful orange pumpkins. On Halloween carving pumpkins is our favorite tradition. But how much you know about the big orange beauty. Don’t worry we have collected fun facts about pumpkins to elevate your mood.

Here are fun facts about pumpkins 

A fruit not vegetable

Perhaps we may have used pumpkins as vegetables but actually it’s a fruit. According to botanists, pumpkins are the seed bearing structure of the flowering plant. Therefore, it is a fruit not vegetable.

Delicate Fruits

Pumpkins may look tough and heavy which they definitely are but they are very delicate. It is hard to save it from organisms to treat it once bruised.

Pumpkin Capital

Morton, Illinois is the pumpkin capital of the world. The capital produces over 100 tons of pumpkin each year. Quite impressive!

Place where pumpkins don’t grow

Pumpkins can grow in a wide variety of climates, that’s why they grow on all four continents. But the extremely cold temperature of Antarctica is not suitable for their cultivation.

Pumpkins Family 

Pumpkins belong to the Cucurbit family. Or simply, it is a member of gourds family. Winter Squash, Watermelon, Honeydew melons, Cantaloupe, cucumbers and Zucchini also belong to the same family.

Origin of the word Pumpkin

Pumpkin originated from a Greek word “Pepon” which means large melons. Later, the English Protestants Puritans changed it.

Varieties of Pumpkins

Pumpkins come in various sizes, shapes and colors. The most common types of pumpkins are: the Fairytale, the jack-be-little, the Cinderella, the Jarrahdale, and the One Too Many. 

Pumpkin Seeds and Strips

All parts of pumpkins are edible. Pumpkin seeds have been in use by Native American for producing medicines. They used dried pumpkin strips as mats.  

Guinness Book of World Record for Heaviest Pumpkin

The heaviest pumpkin world record was set by Mathias Willemijins of Belgium in October, 2016. According to Guinness World Records the pumpkin weighed 2, 624 pounds. Huh!

Oldest Pumpkin Seed

Historians state that the oldest seed of pumpkin was found in Mexico in around 7000 BC. Though they are the most popular crop in the United States.

How pumpkins grow traditionally?

In April, the seeds of pumpkins are planted in greenhouses. As soon as May start the pumpkins start to grow they are shifted outside the greenhouses. Pumpkins are ready for harvest once their color changes.

Carving Pumpkins on Halloween

In the past, people used to carve swedes and turnips on Halloween. However, pumpkins replaced turnips and swedes as stable fixtures for Halloween. No doubt carved pumpkins look scary and mysterious.

What is Jack-o-Lantern?

In America, the pumpkins that are carved specially for Halloween festivals are named as Jack-o-Lantern. Without a doubt pumpkins are a super Halloween decoration.

Famous Thanksgiving Dish

Pumpkins are used in a variety of dishes such as soups, pies, cakes, juices and meals. Although pumpkin pies are the most famous Thanksgiving dish but the original feast of Thanksgiving in 1612 didn’t contain the main dish. The pilgrims of the feast because of unavailability of flour, butter and oven, simply filled the pumpkin with milk, honey and spices to make a custard. But many historians have no evidence to prove it.

World’s Largest Pumpkin Pie

In September 2010, the world’s largest pumpkin pie was made by New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers of the USA. This largest pumpkin had a diameter of 20 feet and weighted 3, 699 pounds.

Where pumpkin carving was started?

Irish people were the first to start pumpkin carving. They began with potatoes and turnips but after their migration to America they found pumpkins more worthy of carving.

National Pumpkin Day

National Pumpkin Day is celebrated each year on October 26. Though it is not an official holiday but still people carve pumpkins to give thanks to the integral part of American Heritage.