I would like to tell you about something so common and ubiquitous in our American culture that I am sure you don’t think about it as being very special. It is something that has been around for a long time and you see these things every year. And no doubt you might even eat these things or at least taste the flavor, especially at this time of year. I am talking about pumpkins.

Simply put, pumpkins are a type of winter squash. Winter squash is an annual fruit within the genus Cucurbita. They are typically a warm season plant which means they aren’t planted until early summer when the ground temperature is warm and the fruit ripens in October. They grow on a vine that creeps across the ground and has very large edible flowers. The fruit develops quickly and comes in all sizes and shapes and colors.

The name pumpkin refers to any roundish, orange-colored kind of squash. The use of the word “pumpkin” came from “peopon” which is Greek for large melon. The French word “pompon” and later in English “pumpion”. All of this was applied to pumpkins in New England in settlement times when people were first introduced to the pumpkin. European settlers had never seen such large orange fruits and didn’t know what to call them, so the word pumpkin was used to describe it.

You see, pumpkins are one of the oldest cultivated plants for food, dating back around 10,000 years ago. Pumpkins were originally grown by native peoples of Mexico and southwestern United States. In other words, pumpkins were a source of food long before European settlers came to North America.

The oldest evidence of the pumpkin being used for food comes from fragments of pumpkin stems found in caves in Mexico and date back 7,000 BC. Not only were pumpkins developed and cultivated by native people, so were corn and beans. It wasn’t long after European settlers came to America that pumpkins started showing up in Europe and they took off from there. Pumpkins are now a worldwide food.

As a food, pumpkins are very good to eat and are very healthy. A 3.5 oz amount of raw pumpkin provides 20 percent of your daily Provitamin A beta-carotene. It also has vitamin C. and is low in carbohydrates and nearly zero fat. Pumpkin seeds are also very good to eat. A one-ounce amount of pumpkin seeds are a good source of protein, zinc and magnesium.

It wasn’t until the Mid-1800’s did pumpkins become associated with Halloween and people started to carve pumpkins to make a jack-o-lantern. Carving pumpkins came about when Irish and Scottish immigrants, who use to carve turnips to make lanterns. The pumpkin was larger and more readily available to these immigrants to carry on their traditions from the home country.

Today pumpkins are found worldwide and grown in just about every country on the planet. They are frequently associated with Halloween in North America. So, this year, take a moment to reflect on the rich history and the origins of one of the oldest food crops on the planet, the pumpkin. Until next time…

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the U.S. to study and capture images of wildlife. He can be followed at www.Instagram.com, www.Facebook.com and www.Twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.NatureSmart.com.