Uzzi and I love this time of year because soon we ’ll be eating yummy pumpkins . pumpkin are loaded with vitamin A and beta - carotene , the USDA says , and we think they just smack good ! We goats and the sheep and hens wipe out piles of pumpkins after Halloween , when growers sell leftover pumpkins cheap . Mom slices naked pumpkin vine into two pieces , and then we nibble out the meat , pulp and seeded player . Yum !
Humans love pumpkins , too . mommy says they’reeasy to grow , and they come in lots of interesting and tastyvarieties . you’re able to make pumpkins intopies , bread , pancakes , cake , cheesecake , cookie , parfaits , puddingandrisotto . You canstuff pumpkins with porkorstew them with ham . And how aboutpumpkin souporchili ? you may evenpickle pumpkinsif you like . Now there ’s a versatile harvest !
The USDA says that in 2011 , $ 113 - million worth of pumpkin vine were grow on 47,300 acres in the top six pumpkin production states : California , Illinois , Michigan , New York , Ohio and Pennsylvania .
It ’s pretty interesting , though , that 80 percent of the pumpkins grown in the United States are raised within a 90 - mile radius of Peoria in key Illinois . ( That ’s consort to the University of Illinois . ) Most of those pumpkin are processed into canned autumn pumpkin and canned Cucurbita pepo - Proto-Indo European woof . The townsfolk of Morton , near Peoria , is the self - proclaimed Pumpkin Capital of the World .
The Guinness Book of World Records 2012lists eight pumpkin Charles Herbert Best , among them :
Why would anyonewantto hurl a pumpkin 5,545.43 feet ? It ’s part of a sportswoman called pumpkin chucking — or punkin ’ chunkin’—in which pumpkin vine are toss great length using equipment as various as elephantine slingshots , line shank , and ancient siege weapon system , like catapults and arbalest . TheWorld Punkin Chunkin Championshipis held each class in Bridgeville , Del , where up to 75 team enter in an regalia of classes and divisions . Each squad get three shooting , one take on each of three consecutive days and only their best shot counting . Because pumpkins must stay on whole after leave a twist to count , thick - skinned varieties knead best .
In addition to their modern - day America , pumpkins visualize in folklore and fiction , like the one Cinderella ’s fairy godmother turns into a fancy posture , Linus ’ great pumpkin vine in the Peanuts cartoon funnies and the autumn pumpkin hurled at Icabod Crane by the brainless horseman inThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow . And educatee at Hogwart ’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry drink autumn pumpkin juice as a favorite beverage . Hey , I bet I ’d like that , too !
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