Herb. No. 199 · Cucurbitaceae
Eastern North American and Mexican pepos; Halloween is a later Irish-American habit.
Native · North America · Mexico & Central America
Native Also grownNow a garden plant worldwide
LegalGentleplant
Pumpkin
Cucurbita pepo
Fruit & vegetableHarvestCompanions
A Mesoamerican winter squash we carved into a face — the food is the dry, sweet flesh and the seed.
Pumpkin, in the American kitchen, is mostly Cucurbita pepo (and sometimes C. maxima or C. moschata). Traditional Indigenous and later colonial use is as a stored winter flesh and a roasted seed. Culinary sweet types are the path. A jack-o’-lantern is often stringy. A bitter squash is cucurbitacin — not pie, not a ‘wild’ experiment.
Flavor
Sweet, chestnut, a little string. Seed is nutty when roasted.
Parts used
Ripe flesh · Seed
Helpful
- Stores cool for months
- Seed is a second food
Cautions
- Vine takes a bed
- Ornamental types are not supper
- Bitter fruit is toxic