Trick or Treat with the Pumpkin: Fantastic Facts & Kid-Friendly Recipes - December 2024

The first fantastic fact about the pumpkin is that it is a fruit and not a vegetable although most of us would find this ubiquitous gourd placed in the vegetable section of the supermarket and use it in our cooking. But ask any botanist. A pumpkin is a fruit because it's full of seeds and is a product of the flowering pumpkin vine. (Maybe you want to tell the kids to set things right. Wink) Technicalities aside, let’s find out why the pumpkin is such a rave come October every year. For starters ─ it’s the fall season and it's Halloween! In America, kids wearing costumes will go door to door trick or treating while lawns and windows of homes would be decked with carved pumpkins. Inside the kitchens, pumpkin pies would be baking in the oven. Halloween is celebrated in a big way in America on 31st October every year. In Malaysia, we just join in the fun. The pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern is synonymous with Halloween. In Case the Kids Ask You Why So what’s with the pumpkin, October and Halloween? Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated each year on October 31. Although it is observed in a big way in America, the festival actually originated from Ireland. Irish immigrants brought the celebration and the tradition of carving Jack-O-Lanterns out of pumpkins to America when they first sailed into the new land to make a new home in the 1800s. Why it was originally an Irish celebration is because Halloween first began as an ancient festival called Samhain. The festivity was observed by the Celts who lived 2000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the UK and northern France. The Celts followed a different calendar and celebrated their New Year on November 1, making October 31 their New Year’s Eve ─ the last day of the Celtic year that was believed to be the day when ghouls and ghosts would be freed. To some extent, Halloween is a little like our Asian Hungry Ghost Festival celebrated in the seventh month of the Chinese calendar every year. While we commemorate the Buddhist festivity with food and jossticks, we celebrate Halloween with spooky partying filled with pumpkin Jack-O-Lanterns, food and creepy costumes. Here are a Few More Fantastic Facts about the Pumpkin 1. Jack-O-Lanterns Didn’t Use to be Pumpkins Halloween isn’t Halloween without those pumpkin Jack-O-Lanterns, but did you know that the original Jack-O-Lanterns were not pumpkins but turnips and potatoes? And why are they called Jack-O-Lanterns? Well, because the Irish used to tell tales of terror about a wandering spirit called Stingy Jack. They would carve scary faces on turnips or potatoes and put them in their windows to keep Stingy Jack away on Halloween. When the Irish migrated to North America, they saw pumpkins growing in abundance there and quickly realized it was much easier to carve a pumpkin than a turnip! The original Irish Jack-O-Lanterns were made out of turnips but turnips were smaller and more difficult to carve than the firm and sturdy pumpkin. (Image Credit: The Bitter Socialite) 2. US Pumpkins Ripen for Picking only in October Pumpkins are believed to have originated from North America although references to pumpkins date back many centuries. The Greek word for “large melon” is "pepon", for example. In 1584, Jacques Cartier explored the St Lawrence region of North America and he reported finding “gros melons” or “pompions”. The word has since evolved to become the modern “pumpkin.” Wherever they may have originated from, pumpkins are today grown on every continent except Antarctica. A lot come from the US ─ such as 1.5 billion pounds. Out of this amount, over 800 million pumpkins become ripe for the picking in a single month of the year: October. 3. Not All Pumpkins are Round and Orange in Colour Look at the huge variety of pumpkins! Some of them are “warties” as you can see, bred to look that way to make for even weirder-looking Jack-O-Lanterns and decorations. (Image Credit: GatewayMacon) Because the bright orange pumpkin at one particular size is most associated with Halloween, we tend to think that all pumpkins look like that. Not true. There are as many as 42 if not more, varieties of pumpkins in the world and they range from miniature size of less than one pound to more than 2,000 pounds in shapes such as flat, oval, skinny, fat and oblong! In terms of colour ─ they come in white, yellow, red, pink, green, blue, striped, dual-coloured and full of “warts” . All are edible but some are not suited for cooking as these have been specifically bred for decoration. The Malaysian varieties are the Cucurbita Moschata and Cucurbita Moschata Duchesne. Colloquially, they are called Labu Manis and Labu Loceng. They are available in our markets and can be grown from their seeds in our backyards. Here is the whopping 2,624.6-pound pumpkin won by Mathias Willemijns (centre) from Belgium in 2016. This pumpkin is the holder of the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Pumpkin. (Image Credit: Big Pumpkins.com) 4. Pumpkins are a Superfood, Good for Babies, Toddlers and Adults Pumpkins are fiber-rich, nutrient-dense food. Here are our easily-available Malaysian varieties: (From Left) Labu Madu and Labu Loceng (Image Credit: Home Delivery 2U and Jabatan Teknoloji Tanaman) Rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, pumpkins are incredibly healthy. Not only that, they are delicious and are versatile enough to be made into soups, stews, breads, porridge, pies, cakes, stirfries…and the list goes on. Babies from the age of six months may begin consuming it as puree or mixed into cereals, yogurt, and even in meats such as chicken. The pumpkin’s low calorie content also makes it a weight-loss-friendly food ─ perfect for mothers looking to lose their baby weight. Here is the pumpkin’s impressive nutrient profile, according to Healthline One cup of cooked pumpkin (245 grams) contains: Calories: 49 Fat: 0.2 grams Protein: 2 grams Carbs: 12 grams Fiber: 3 grams Vitamin A: 245% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) Vitamin C: 19% of the RDI Potassium: 16% of the RDI Copper: 11% of the RDI Manganese: 11% of the RDI Vitamin B2: 11% of the RDI Vitamin E: 10% of the RDI Iron: 8% of the RDI Small amounts of magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, folate and several B vitamins. As can be seen, pumpkins are relatively low in calories as it is 94% water. It is also very high in beta-carotene, a carotenoid that your body turns into vitamin A. This, and its Lutenin and Zeaxanthin content can boost and protect eyesight. 5. Best of All, Pumpkins make the Healthiest Kid-Friendly Meals Here are two super-nutritious, no-cook, very easy-to-make pumpkin recipes for your children. They can be whipped up in 10 minutes max! For busy mums, this is the best! (Recipes from Weelicious.com). Pumpkin Butter (makes 2 Cups) Pumpkin Butter is egg-free, diary-free, gluten-free and easy to make. It can be stored in the fridge for weeks. Slather it on bread, toast, buns, crackers and anything else. Makes a great breakfast or packed lunch for your school-going kids. (Image Credit: weelicious.com) Ingredients 2 Cups pumpkin puree 1 Tsp cinnamon 1/4 Tsp Nutmeg 1/3 cup honey 1 tablespoon lemon juice Method Place all of the ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low heat for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Cool and serve. Place in appropriate tupperware or ziploc bag and freeze up to four months. Defrost in fridge. If you want to get into the Halloween mood, you can make pumpkin butter toast with Halloween-themed shapes. Just fashion the pumpkin butter into pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern shapes with a spoon on hot toast, and use chocolate chips or raisins to make a fun face. The children will get so excited. (Image Credit: weelicious.com) Pumpkin Pie Parfait (makes 10 parfaits) Your kids will love this Pumpkin Pie Parfait. It can be made in large batches beforehand and stored in the fridge for 24 hours before eating (Image Credit: weelicious.com) Ingredients 1 cup pumpkin puree 1 cup whipped cream cheese, or non-whipped at room temperature 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (if unavailable, you can substitute with cinnamon powder) 3 tablespoons brown sugar 2 cups heavy whipping cream 2 tablespoons powdered sugar 2 sleeves graham crackers, crushed (about 2 1/2 cups)** 10 8-ounce mason jars Method In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Layer the parfait ingredients into mason jars in this order: graham crackers, pumpkin cream cheese mixture, whipped cream. Continue to layer to fill the jar, at least 2 layers of each ingredient. Serve chilled. **Substitute for Graham Crackers If you can’t find graham crackers in Malaysia, you have other options. Some of the substitutes that you can consider include * Cookies – graham crackers are cookies, so if you are looking for a similar flavour, you can try using ginger snaps, vanilla wafers, oatmeal cookies or even Oreo cookies. * Ice Cream Cones – Both sugar cones and waffle cones have a sweet taste that will work great as the crust of a pie. Simply crumble them down and combine them with butter to create a crust. * Cereal – you can use granola, corn flakes, crispy rice, or a similar cereal to create a crust. * Sponge Cake – Sponge cake bases give an airy texture that is unique, but delightful. For more kid-friendly recipes, visit Motherhood.com.my.

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