Did you know?
Pumpkins, according to an Iroquois legend, came to man when the Great Spirit walked across the earth: Corn sprouted where she walked, beans grew at her left hand and pumpkins grew at her right. In “The Perfect Pumpkin,” Gail Damerow wrote that Native Americans taught English colonists to grow what they called “the three sisters.” Today we call that practice polycropping or multicropping, and it still makes sense to do so: The fast-growing pumpkin vines keep weeds at bay by shading the soil and act as living mulch.
Pumpkin is a great source of the beta-carotene that your body turns into vitamin A and that is credited with antioxidant virtues. It’s fairly high in fiber (3 grams in 1 cup of cooked pumpkin) and potassium (564 mg in that same cup) but low in calories (49).
Buying tips
Choose a pumpkin that’s heavy for its size. If the pumpkin sounds hollow when you thump it, pass it by. For jack-o’-lanterns, choose field pumpkins, and big is fine. For cooking, you want pie pumpkins (sometimes called “sugar pumpkins”), the little guys that weigh 2 pounds or so. Even if it’s not specifically labeled as a pie or sugar pumpkin, if it weighs 2 to 3 pounds, it’s probably fine for cooking.
Storing tips
Cool (50-55 degrees) and dry (50-70 percent humidity) is ideal; a basement or garage might work. If the floor is concrete, put something under the pumpkins.
Preparation tips
In most cases, what you want is the cooked, mashed flesh of the pumpkin–not the skin, and maybe not the seeds. To get that, you can cut the pumpkin in 2-inch pieces and boil, roast or steam until tender. A 2-pound pumpkin should give you about 2 cups of cooked pumpkin puree.
Cooking suggestions
Chunked pumpkin is great in stews and soups (especially anything with the other two aforementioned Native American sisters), and pumpkin puree is a good substitute for applesauce or prune puree in baking as a fat substitute.
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rjenkins@tribune.com
