Pumpkin Fun Facts It's pumpkin time in the North Carolina Triangle! Read about local family farms on page 5, and have fun visiting the pumpkin festivals and cornfield mazes! In the meantime, here are some fun facts about pumpkins to amaze your friends and family!
World's heaviest pumpkin weighs almost as much as a small car! Pumpkins range in size from less than
a pound to over 1,000 pounds. The largest pumpkin ever grown so far weighed 2,232.7 pounds, grown by Beni Meier of Switzerland in 2014. (That's almost big enough to be Cinderella's pumpkin carriage!) Before Meier broke the record, the previous record-holder for the largest pumpkin was Ron Wallace of Rhode Island in 2012.
The name pumpkin comes from the Greek word “pepon”, which means “large melon.” Pumpkins originally came from Central America. Pumpkins were important crops for the Native Americans and later the pilgrims because they stored well, and provided nutritious food during the winter months. In Colonial times, pumpkins were used to make a (healthy) treat to eat. The colonists sliced off the tops of the pumpkins; removed the seeds and filled the insides with spices and honey. The pumpkins were then baked over hot ashes, making them soft: the first pumpkin pie! Native Americans used pumpkins for eating (roasted in long strips in an open fire), making mats (they flattened and dried out strips of pumpkins, then wove the strips together to make mats).
Beni Meier of Switzerland (at left in his pumpkin patch, and above center) with his record-breaking pumpkin at the 2014 European Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in Germany Meier's pumpkin weighed 2,232.7 pounds!
Native Americans also used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine. Pumpkins are fruit, and are used to make seeds, breads, and pumpkin pies.
Pumpkins are mostly water (90% water). Pumpkins are fruit. Pumpkins contain potassium and vitamin A. Pumpkin seeds can be roasted as a snack. Even the pumpkin flowers are edible (they can be eaten). Pumpkin flowers are star-shaped. Pumpkins are used to make soups, pies and bread. Gotta Have Bees!
Did you know that pumpkins grow from flowers? When Bees pollinate the flowers, some of the flowers are fertilized so they can bear fruit (a pumpkin). It takes around 50 bee visits for a female pumpkin flower to become pollinated. Without bees, we wouldn’t have pumpkins.
16 www.ChillKids.com/news October 2015