Well, you can’t go out right now without seeing pumpkins for sale most everywhere. Splashes of brilliant orange line the shopping centers along with pumpkin patches selling their bounty! Who knew there are so many different varieties of squash that fall into the pumpkin category? These bright orange beauties aren’t just for carving! Pumpkins are also good to eat and they are loaded with beta carotene and other goodies that support your immune system like vitamins C and E. How do you like your pumpkin? Some people like pumpkin in their coffee. Pumpkin Lattes seem to be the rage…I don’t know, I’ve never tried it! Not sure if I will ever bring myself to try it! Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin in other things. Who doesn’t love pumpkin pie? Soufflé pumpkin roll, anyone? I’ve carted that recipe around for over 30 years. The sweeter ‘Sugar Pumpkins’ are the best for pie, breads, cookies and other baked goodies. Savory, Creamy Pumpkin soup is another favourite of mine. Oh, I can’t forget tortellini di zuca, another favourite…yummy! Cooking with pumpkin, the list goes on and on. I’ll stop now as I’m getting hungry. There is so much to know about this heavy squash with the umbilicus (as Rosie, the Master Gardener told me about.) Along with organic gardening habits, the umbilicus purifies and nourishes the fruit through the vine. Folklore galore, these bright orange pumpkins have. I’ve heard that it was the fairytale ‘Cinderella’ story written in 1697 and published by Grimm brothers in 1812, that is how the pumpkin got its name and recognition. It could be, but I’m not sure about that as ‘Peter, Peter pumpkin eater’ was written in 1825. Remember him? He couldn’t keep his wife so he put her in a pumpkin shell? Maybe she liked orange. Carving and illuminating pumpkins was to protect and keep bad spirits away. I guess it was a lot easier to carve a pumpkin rather than a turnip. As Halloween falls at a time when the earthly and heavenly veil between worlds is the thinnest..it means the spirits are everywhere and trying to communicate with us
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Happy Halloween!!