The History of a Seasonal Favorite
Fall is officially here and the pumpkin obsession has begun. This fall at Wolfe’s Neck Farm, we are offering Pumpkin Hayrides, as well as offering a large selection of pumpkins grown and sold in the Teen Ag Farm Stand. Since pumpkin season is upon us, here is a quick history of the pumpkin we all know and love.
The early settlers of pilgrims relied heavily on pumpkins to keep their colonies from dying of starvation. Instead of pie, the settlers would make a custard inside of the pumpkin, as well as ferment the pumpkins to produce a beer. In the earliest of colonies, the shells of pumpkins were even used as a template for uniformed haircuts desired by the puritans. Because of this practice, the people New England were given the nickname “pumpkin heads”.
We all recognize our standard pumpkins as being bright orange and ready to be transformed into Jack-o-Lanterns, but pumpkins can also be yellow, green, red, or white. The word pumpkin comes from the Greek word “pepon”, which means “large melon”, and scientifically speaking, a pumpkin is considered to be a fruit. In the United States, over 1 billion pounds of pumpkins are grown and sold every year (USDA).
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