Aside from opening a can, scooping out some pumpkin, and dropping it into a pie crust, or carving a misshapen face into a pumpkin-patch-pumpkin, I haven't had much interaction with the fruit.
There seems to be controversy over pumpkins, much like tomatoes, as to whether or not they are a fruit or vegetable. My mother told me that fruits have reproductive seeds inside, and since she's a published horticulturist I'll take her word for it.
Whatever the orange globe is, it's tasty. I've always been a fan of pumpkin pie, but was excited to see pumpkins I'd never laid eyes on before at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers' Market here in DC. These weren't orange, or yellow, or even green like the acorn squash I'd seen. No surrreeh, I found the most bizarre grey, lopsided pumpkin I'd ever seen and asked, "is this one really only 1$ per pound?"
I'll admit, shoving the pumpkin into my messenger bag to bike was a challenge, but the online journey to discover which pumpkin I'd actually purchased was half the joy. Jarrahdale pumpkins, or Cucurbita maxima, originally from New Zealand is very firm, not too stringy, and has beautiful grey skin. Check out this great pumpkin identification site if you too have a mystery squash.
Over the next few days I'll post a few rewarding pumpkin experiments. The first thing I learned is that baking pumpkin to prep it for recipes is a total waste of time and energy. Instead of roasting your pumpkin in the oven, peel it, chop it, and steam it until fork-tender in 8 minutes rather than the hour long gas investment of running the oven. The second thing I learned is that pumpkin is darn versatile...
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