A Bad Year for Pumpkins

by Cat Spencer

Consider the pumpkin: smooth orange skin bouncing along the interstate like a basketball, stem already brown and dry, the pumpkin awaits a fate it can only hope is in pie or soup form, only to be purchased, gouged, and eviscerated like many a medieval heretic.

It’s autumn in New York, and why does it seem so inviting? Maybe because pumpkins are friggin’ everywhere!

While many may not buy the amazing fruit for its bright orange innards, preferring instead the Libby’s canned variety—Libby’s holds the rights to their variety of pumpkin, so sadly you’ll never be able to recreate that authentic Libby’s canned flavor—pumpkins do abound.

Each year, local farmers from the tri-state area peddle their bright crops to city dwellers, but this year, something is rotten in the state of New York. Indeed, it is the pumpkin. The wet, warm weather has promoted the growth of fungi on pumpkins that ripened in low-lying fields. This fall, there was some serious pumpkin carnage as much of the crop was left to decay, and as much of the tri-state produce that could be salvaged, was. Though possessed of innumerable uses (see below), pumpkins are, to quote local farmer Jill Stults, “finicky.”

Whatever. Just tell me what this means for my Halloween party! Are we to be without pumpkins for the most pumpkin-iest night of the year? Not to worry. While you may have to pay a few extra cents a pound for your wee jack-o-lantern than you did last year (more if you shop at Whole Foods), there will be no shortage of the pumpkin bounty. Groceries, markets, and farm stands are importing fruits from Ohio.

Who doesn’t love a good pumpkin? Its flesh can be fashioned into both a pie and a soup. Can the same be said for apples or leeks? In October, it becomes a lantern, sporting the visage of a grotesquely smiling human face, or something else. Microbreweries often produce a variety of beer infused with the flavor of its fruit, and its seeds can be roasted and salted for a tasty snack. Bands name themselves after it. To top it all off, Peter Peter housed his wife in one! Do you have a sweetie in your life? If so, you might opt to use its name to address your best beloved. Can as much be said of another vegetable? Would you call your spouse “eggplant”?

Perhaps you’re still not impressed with this versatile fruit. Why don’t you conduct some more research of your own . . . on a pumpkin computer.

(Mac-o-lantern from the University of Arkansas.)

Comments

[anonymous]

I love you pumpkin.