Amazing facts about pumpkins for Halloween

Get ready for Halloween with these amazing facts about the in-season vegetable

By Francesca MenatoPublished: 29 October 2014

Jack-o'-lantern, Vegetable, Produce, Calabaza, Squash, Orange, Pumpkin, Winter squash, Holiday, Gourd,

Lanterns

The original jack-o'-lanterns were made with turnips and potatoes by the Irish.

In England, we used large beetroots and lit them with embers to ward off evil spirits. British immigrants took their customs to America, but found that pumpkins were much easier to carve.

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What's in a name?

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The word pumpkin appeared for the first time in the fairy-tale Cinderella.

In 1584, a French explorer called them ‘gros melons’, which translates into Latin as ‘pepon’ and means large melon. It wasn't until the 17th century that they were first referred to as pumpkins.

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Record breakers

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The world’s largest pumpkin was presented in Minnesota in October 2010, it was more than 5ft in diameter and weighed more than 1,800lb.

The largest pumpkin pie ever baked weighed 2,020lb.

Pumpkin pie originated in America, just not as we know it today. People would cut the tops off pumpkins, remove the seeds, fill the pumpkins with milk, spices, and honey, and then bake them in hot ashes.

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What is a pumpkin?

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Pumpkins are a fruit.

More specifically, they are a Winter squash in the family Cucurbitacae, which includes cucumbers and melons.

Pumpkins are 90% water, which makes them low calorie. One cup of tinned pumpkin only has 83 calories and half a gram of fat – the same serving size of sweet potato has triple the calories. Pumpkin also has more fibre than kale, more potassium than bananas, and is full of heart-healthy magnesium and iron.

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Varieties

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There are over 45 different varieties of pumpkin.

They range in colour from red and yellow to green, and have names like Hooligan, Cotton Candy and Orange Smoothie.

This story was originally written by Amanda Hawkins for Good Houskeeping US.

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From: Good Housekeeping US

Francesca Menato

Acting Digital Editor

Ces is the resident runner, with 3 marathons (and counting) under her belt. As acting digital editor she spends her days filling your feeds with things you want to do, try and eat… and lives in perpetual fear of running out of funny meme ideas.

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