Instructions: Pumpkin is a New World food native to the Americas. American Indians and Central American peoples have been cultivating and eating pumpkin for centuries. It is a member of the gourd family, which also includes muskmelon (cantaloupes), watermelon and squash. Like all gourds, pumpkins have a hard exterior with many seeds inside. The seeds themselves are deliciously tasty and are called pepitas in Spanish.

Pumpkin flesh is used in soups and stews around the world, particularly in the Caribbean and central America. The seeds are roasted and eaten as snacks, or shelled and ground and used as a thickener for sauce (ie. mole). The flesh is also cooked in sugar and eaten as a sweet in Guatemala.

Pumpkins are at their best in the fall but store well in a cool dry place. Many sizes and varieties are available. Choose smooth skinned unblemished pumpkins that are heavy for their size.

The pumpkin and the squash are members of the same family. The generally accepted distinction is that pumpkins are larger and orange, but several pumpkins are colored differently. Also, they can be small, as is the Jack-be-Little or Jack-be-Quick (smaller and with deeper ribs) or as big as a famous 400 pound Show King. The sugar pumpkin is preferred for cooking.

Other varieties are Kentucky Field or Large Cheese (pale in color and also recommended for pies), Etamples, Hundred Weight, Jackpot, Hungarian Mammoth (skin color variable - from white to dark green, grey, or orange), Jaune Gros de Paris (pinkish with a russet skin), and Mavis Sweetner (skin mottled), Connecticut Field (or Big Tom), Triple Treat, Lumina (white skinned) and Baby Bear. Medium size ones are the Cheyenne, Tricky Jack, and Bush Hybrid Spirit.

Pumpkin pie was served at the Pilgrims second Thanksgiving in 1623. The colonists of early America made pumpkin soup and pumpkin beer and ate the seeds for snacks. It was such an important item in their diet that a 17th century rhyme went, "We have pumpkin at morning and pumpkin at noon. If it were not for pumpkin, we should be undoon."

Pumpkin is a good source of Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A and C and is high in potassium, iron and calcium. Pumpkin stores well if kept in a cool dry place - up to 7 months, but only for 1 month in a warm, steamy kitchen. If you buy pumpkin puree be sure it is not pumpkin pie filling, which is already spiced.

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