Oregon's Big Pumpkin

Halloween is pumpkin season and here pumpkins are grown in some abundance in Oregon. Oregon isn't the largest pumpkin growing state The top pumpkin production state was Illinois, followed by California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan.  Supposedly, 90 percent of the pumpkins grown in the United States are raised within a 90 mile radius of Peoria, Illinois. There is a city in that region called Morton that is  the self proclaimed Pumpkin Capital of the World. Morton where Libby’s pumpkin processing plant is and Libby's cans more than 85 percent of the world's pumpkin each year. I guess it feels like Halloween most of the year in Morton.

Anyway, Most pumpkins are not grown for decorative reasons at Halloween or during fall. Instead they are processed into canned pumpkin and canned pie mix. This is good because even most professional chefs say that canned pumpkin and fresh pumpkin that has been roasted and processed by a cook are indistinguishable. I roasted pumpkins in my over a few times and tried them in recipes, and I concur there is not difference in the taste when either canned or fresh pumpkin puree is used in a recipe.

Yesterday ny morning newspaper had a picture of the biggest pumpkin in Oregon this year. It is just about one kilo of weighing a ton and is said to be the 4th largest ever grown. The biggest last year was grown in the most unlikeliest of places- Switzerland and was about 140 kilos heavier than the Oregon pumpkin.. When the pumpkin farm show where the Oregon biggie is being displayed ends, the pumpkin's seeds will be harvested, and most of the pulp will be used as compost. It seems that the bigger the pumpkin the less value inside because when they get that big they are pretty much all water inside and have little food value. The seeds are highly desired by planters since they produce huge pumpkins when planted.

I've been to some of those October pumpkin festivals and they are fun. The weirdest part is what happens to the big pumpkins that are not big enough to win prizes for size. The losers are generally were raised by a crane to 100 feet and dropped either onto a junk car or into a pool of water. I guess the life of a pumpkin is mostly splash in the water.