by Lisa Schauer
Walk down the “American food” section of an overseas grocery store, and you’ll find canned pumpkin, alongside peanut butter, maple syrup, ketchup, mustard, relish and processed foods like pastries and snack cakes.
Yet pumpkin stands out as a superfood among America’s favorites.
Loaded with protein and fiber, pumpkin is also high in antioxidants, warding off free radicals that damage our cells over time.
While technically a fruit, pumpkins are in the gourd family, related to squash, cucumbers and watermelons. Beta Carotene, a powerful antioxidant, provides an orange pop of color on your plate.
Packed with 15 different vitamins and minerals, pumpkin is a rich source of iron, potassium, Vitamin C, B vitamins, and Vitamin E for skin health.
If you’re thinking of tackling a pumpkin recipe with your own homemade pumpkin puree rather than the canned variety, choosing the right pumpkin is key. For the best pumpkin pie, look for small sugar pumpkins, also known as pie pumpkins, six to eight inches wide, and weighing around two pounds.
You may need two small pumpkins to make a pie. Ask your local farmer what the best pumpkin is available for your needs. Canned pumpkin is a time-saver, and just as nutritious as fresh pumpkin. Check the label, and choose a pure pumpkin product, such as Libby’ sTM 100% Pure Pumpkin, winner of
Taste of Home test kitchen. Eating pumpkin boosts your immunity, fights off germs, improves eyesight, and helps maintain reproductive health.
While some may decry this ubiquitous fall flavor that seems to come too early, and stay too long, like a kooky cousin during the holidays, we Americans generally love our pumpkin.
The first pumpkin pie was made by early European settlers in America. They scooped out the pumpkin, filled it with honey, milk and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves, then stuck it in a fire and covered it in ash to cook.
Irish immigrants were first to carve pumpkins here into Jack-O-Lanterns, part of an ancient Celtic tradition that started with lighting the skulls of dead ancestors, believing the practice would bring their loved ones back for one night. The Irish carved turnips first in their homeland, but took to pumpkins on these shores.
Native Americans first grew pumpkins along riverbanks, part of their “three sisters” strategy of planting maize, squash and beans together for sustainability. The first cultivated pumpkin seeds are believed to have been found in Mexico and Central America, dating back to around 5,000 B.C. For all its rich history, savory flavor, and nutritional properties, pumpkin is perhaps best loved for the memories it evokes. Pumpkin patches, hayrides, pumpkin pies, pumpkin lattes and pumpkin ice cream products still make up the fall fabric of our American lives.
No matter the weather, the annual arrival of the decorative pumpkin, and pumpkin flavors on menus, signals the official start of fall, along with college football and autumn leaves.
