Pumpkin pie wasn’t always sweet. It dates back to the colonial period, when they filled pumpkins with milk, spices and honey. It was then baked in hot ashes.
Back in the 18th century, medicine men prescribed pumpkin as a cure-all, for example if you got a snake bite.
Pumpkin carving is a huge American tradition, but turnips, potatoes or beets were the original Jack-O-Lanterns.
Howden Field is the classic pumpkin, but there’s also the Atlantic Giant, which grows to more than 100 pounds, Little Boo, and Munchkin varieties.
If you think your Jack-O-Lantern is huge, consider that in 2010, a New Yorker carved a pumpkin that weighed 1,810 pounds!
Pumpkins grow on almost every continent, including super cold climates like Alaska. The only place you won’t find pumpkins is on Antarctica.
Pumpkins are 90 percent water. This didn’t stop the world’s largest pumpkin from weighing more than 2,000 pounds, though. In comparison, the world’s largest watermelon weighs in at a measly 268 pounds.
Source: countryliving.com
