Andrew with his chosen pumpkin.

It is that time of year again.  The night air is getting much cooler.  The leaves on the trees are beginning to fade into different shades of yellow-green.  And, pumpkins are everywhere.  Churches are selling them in big lots.  Stores have them out as decorations.

I sadly did not get any pumpkins from my garden this year.  I planted what looked like pumpkin seeds.  They were labeled as such too, but they did not grow pumpkins.  In the Great Pumpkin Mystery, I discuss my shock and bewilderment when winter squash grows instead.  To be exact, green striped cushaw squash grew.  Therefore this weekend, I took my family to a church’s pumpkin patch to select our pumpkin.

It was a large lot with pallets and pallets of all different kinds of pumpkins.  There were green ones and white ones with orange veins.  The latter were actually very pretty.  Of course, they had all different shapes and sizes and even some gourds for sale.  It was tough to make a decision, but they selected a very nice pumpkin.

We have not decided whether or not we are going to carve the pumpkin.  If you have younger children, you can always draw scary faces on one.  A marker works great.  One time we used nails to attach other vegetables to the pumpkin.  We used radishes for the eyes, a thin crookneck squash for the mouth, etc.  It was so ugly; it was cute.

Regardless if you carve a pumpkin or not, you can still roast the pumpkin seeds.  There are many different ways to do this.  I dissolve sea salt and a little cayenne pepper in warm water and then soak the seeds in it overnight.  Drain the water.  Spread the seeds out on a baking dish.  Put your oven on its lowest setting and let the warm air roast your pumpkin seeds.  Check after a few hours, turning occasionally.  The seeds are ready to eat and/or store when they are dry and crispy.  Depending on the temperature, it could take up to eight hours to completely dry the seeds.

My favorite way to use pumpkin is to make pumpkin puree.   Now that the seeds and goop are out, I cut the pumpkin up into big wedges.  Taking my good knife I remove the peel easily.  I then chop the pumpkin flesh into large chunks.  I put these in a big pot with water and boil.  When the pumpkin is tender, I drain the water.  In my food processor, I puree the pumpkin.  I freeze it in quart-sized freezer bags in 2 cup portions.  If you look at most recipes that use pumpkin, they almost always call for 2 cups.

The puree is not as firm as the canned and the color is more true orange than brown.  It makes very good pies and cakes.  I can make enough puree from one large pumpkin that I have enough for a year.  If you cook a lot with pumpkin throughout the year, then I would make puree from two pumpkins.

First, I bought tomato plants.  I wanted to try a few different varieties that they offered.  My plants are doing well despite the heat and lack of rain; however, I like to get what I pay for.  I did not purchase Roma tomatoes, which I happen to like, but those are the only tomatoes growing in my garden.  Every single plant was mismarked.  A slight bump in my gardening road.  No big deal.

I bought black-eyed peas to plant in rows.  About every fifth plant is a purple hull peas.  Again, no big deal.  Slight inconvenience.  You cannot tell the difference when cooked.

I planted several hills of pumpkin seeds, or so I thought.  I looked forward to pureeing pumpkin flesh for cakes and pies.  I looked forward to watching my children laugh and giggle as they each carved a pumpkin in October.  I looked forward to roasting the seeds and eating them as a snack.  I watched and waited expectantly as the plants took off.  They stretched their vines across the hay covered garden.  They began bearing fruit.  The fruit was not orange.

“Well that is odd,” I thought.

My dad saw them as he walked through our garden enjoying the sights.  They stopped him dead in his tracks.  “What did you plant here, Lara?”

“I planted pumpkins,” I responded knowing full well they did not look a bit like a pumpkin.

“Well, they need to pumpkin up!” he said as he laughed.

I knew I was growing some kind of gourd or squash.  I did not want a gourd or squash.  In addition, not all the plants were the same.  Half of the plants bore smooth and pale vegetables.  The other half bore striped green and white vegetables that look just like a watermelon.  When I cut into one, I halfway expected there to be pink flesh and black seeds.  I was perplexed and frustrated.  I wanted pumpkins!!

I think that I know what I am growing, but maybe ya’ll will actually know.  Please look at the following pictures and see if you can answer my great pumpkin mystery.  The only thing I can be sure of is these aren’t pumpkins.

The two mystery squashes.

The inside of the mystery squash.