Monday, October 24, 2011

Did You Go Pumpkin Picking?

With only one week left to Halloween it is time to start carving pumpkins for Halloween.

Pumpkin is a truly American vegetable.  Well, technically it is a fruit.  Just like tomato.  It belongs to the same family with cucumbers, melons and squash.  Americans Indians used it as one of their staple foods.  Pumpkins were planted together with corn and beans in self sustaining, self supporting and self enhancing micro ecological cultivation systems called the “Three Sisters”.


Pumpkin was used not only for food.  Flattened and dried it served as mats.   The seed was also applied as medicine.  After roasting or drying, pumpkin as food supply would last all the way through winter to the next harvest season.

European settlers craving for sweets and deserts would make first pumpkin pies by slicing off the top of a pumpkin, removing the seeds and filling the inside with milk, spices and honey.  Then they would bury such prepared “dough” in hot ashes and bake it until ready.

President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama have already purchased their pumpkins this year.

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