The Right Kind Of Pumpkin To Buy This Halloween: Here’s Which One

With the arrival of October, we have officially entered the autumn period. The last blow of the tail of the summer gives hope that the beautiful days are not yet over, but the weather experts announce rains from next week. What better way to prepare for winter than to dust off old fall recipes, let’s see what they are together. One of the main ingredients is pumpkin. It is a key food of the season but also a great protagonist of the scariest party of the year: halloween. The vegetable ripens around mid-September and is extremely rich in vitamins such as vitamin A and vitamin C, but also in calcium, sodium, phosphorus, potassium and various mineral salts.

Many wonder what is the best pumpkin for food use but also to carve it and make the typical Halloween pumpkin. Industry experts tell us that the best pumpkins are those belonging to the Cucurbita family. More specifically, there are two pumpkins that belong to this family and are remarkable: they are the cucurbita maxima and the cucurbita moschata. Cucurbita maxima is the most widely used quality and its main characteristics are the highly colored rind and the wide, rounded shape. As for the second type of pumpkin, that is to say the cucurbita moschata, the typical round shape is absent because it is replaced by an elongated shape and a smooth skin and no longer rough as in the case of the cucurbita moschata.

Both grades of pumpkin are excellent foods, delicate in taste and versatile in the kitchen and beyond. For the decorations, the experts give us very precise indications. When we have to buy a pumpkin to use as a decoration, we must remember that it is necessary to give the right amount to the pulp: this constitutes about 70% of the whole vegetable. The heavier the vegetable, the better the pumpkin will be. Another element to observe is the skin. This should be hard and even, so better if it has no unsightly imperfections.

But the real litmus test that confirms it’s a good pumpkin is the sound it makes: it must be deaf. The best pumpkin that has these characteristics always belongs to the Cucurbita family, in this case it is the Cucurbita Pepo. It is an ideal pumpkin for decorations, but also valid for use in the kitchen, especially for savory recipes. Connoisseurs, to best preserve our pumpkins, tell us to avoid putting them in the fridge and to favor warm places.