Just about the time my wife began to despair that her Jack Be Little (orange) and Casperita (white) pumpkins were not growing, they began to sprout. And, before long, like a fairy tale, they started to grow. And grow. Annnnd grow.
In no time, we had little mini orange and white pumpkins all over our kitchen table, piled into bins and tucked anywhere else there was an empty crook or cranny in the house and basement. We were over-run with them.
After giving them away to friends, neighbors and family, we were a little panicky as they continued to pop up on the vines.
As a trained chef, my wife got busy. While enjoying a delicious cup of cream of spinach soup, I detected a little something unusual about the texture. It seemed a bit heavier, slightly thicker than usual.
Now suspicious, I asked her. “Hmm. This soup is a bit heavier than before. What did you put in it?” Smiling playfully, she said try and guess. “More cream??” “Nope. A pumpkin. I used a Casperita so the soup wouldn’t turn a funny color.”
Ahhh … caught again.
My wife was meeting the challenge. She has been surreptitiously slipping these into our diet one dish at a time. She has found very creative ways of incorporating them into various recipes. I never know where or when they will pop up. And they are always delicious.
She has slipped them into beef stew, roasted and used them as a squash side or squash medley, and steamed then pureed them to be used in some of the most scrumptious chocolate chip cookies I have ever had, to name a few.
She has other ideas that include using them in cheesecake or, more obviously, in pumpkin pies, as a fresher alternative to canned pumpkin. They can also be frozen either raw (cut into chunks) or pureed, for future use.
I expect I will be tasting these in upcoming dishes. And the deer behind our house seem to enjoy them as well. Helping themselves in our garden, they prefer them raw. To each one’s own.
Early Native Americans made very good use of pumpkins, eating every part, save the stem. To preserve them for later use, they were cut into strips, dried and saved for a variety of cooking uses. They also dried the shells and used them as bowls or as storage containers.
Perhaps the most beneficial use my wife has found for them was at the dentist. Because you can never cozy up enough to one’s dentist, after all.
On one of her visits in late summer, she brought in a tub of 16 pumpkins. During a subsequent follow-up visit, she was happy to see them cheerily displayed throughout the waiting room.
When she was called in, the dentist commented on how expensive the same pumpkins were at the grocery store. To “cement” the experience, my wife went on to tell her of the many culinary uses for them, once their decorative value was done. A nice way to end a dental visit.
Jan Begert is a freelance writer who lives in a log home on a few acres in midcoast Maine with her wife, son and golden retriever, Finn.
Jack Be Little Pumpkins
True to their name, these little guys average 3 to 4 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height fully grown. They take about 90 days to come in (which is why we were temporarily fooled that they were not growing). The vines grow to at least 10 feet in length and can produce up to 15-20 fruit on each vine. We planted 4 hills with 4 seeds each. Conservatively, we ended up with 60 or 70 of them before the frost ended the party.
Casperita Pumpkins
Like Casper the Ghost, these little fellas are all white and grow to the same size as the Jack Be Littles. While they have a slightly shorter growth time and vine length, they are high yielding on par with the Jack Be Littles. They’re also used primarily for decorative purposes but do have culinary value as well, as I can well attest.
Nutritionally, pumpkins are high in vitamins, minerals, nutrients, antioxidants, and loaded with Beta Carotene, which your body converts to Vitamin A. And the Vitamin A equates to a whopping 200% of the recommended daily intake. Of equal benefit is that they are low in calories and high in fiber.
Uses of this fruit are many, aside from placing them on your table at Halloween and Thanksgiving for decorative purposes. Once you’re tired of looking at them, serve them up! If you’re really ambitious and want to impress guests, use them as soup bowls to serve up a delicious Harvest Pumpkin Soup or a Roasted Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Soup. You get the idea. There are numerous and varied recipes for preparing a savory pumpkin soup. Stored in a dry, cool basement, they will keep for months.
While preparation and use of this fruit for culinary purposes may require a little more effort, the nutritional benefits are worth it. These are extremely versatile little fruit.
Hint: Grow just one or two seed hills unless you have a family of twenty.
