"I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion." -- Henry David Thoreau
Ah, the pumpkin. An under-appreciated fruit. And I suspect Thoreau was noting his desire for solitude more than appreciating the sturdy perch of a large pumpkin in a field at Walden Pond. Perhaps
you have sat on a pumpkin, or watched your grand/children scurry over and among them. (That's actually my sister and me on pumpkins my grandpa grew in 1967!) Their bright orange is so cheerful. They command a smile and trigger the imagination with possibilities for decorating and carving. The variety in shape, size and color makes picking out the perfect one a task second only to picking out the Christmas tree in terms of compare and contrast time! And for most of the United States, when Halloween is over, the sugar buzz is gone and the jack-o-lantern's teeth have fallen in, pumpkins are unceremoniously put out to the curb and forgotten until the next year. (Okay, except for pie. Pumpkins get a brief resurrection in November as a pie!) But pumpkins have a long history as food and medicine and should be considered in the expansion of both your palate and your medicine cabinet!
History. The first evidence of pumpkins were found in Mexico, with seeds dating back to between 7000 and 5500 B.C. So native to North America, they have traveled across the globe and are currently grown on all continents except Antarctica. Pumpkins are part of cuisines across the globe, in dishes beyond pie! Today in the U.S., about 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are grown each year. Morton, Illinois is home to a Nestle's manufacturing plant that processes about 90% of the canned pumpkin products in the U.S.
The word pumpkin comes from a Greek word, pepon, which means large melon. The French altered it a bit to "pompon" (which give a WHOLE new thought to high school half-times, doesn't it?), there was a further tinkering to "pompion" before we seemed to finally have settled on pumpkin. Whew!
Botany. The pumpkin is a member of the Cucurbitacea family which also includes cucumbers, melons and gourds. Its botanical name is Cucurbita pepo.
Nutrition. Let's consider the pumpkin as food outside of pie! The flesh of the pumpkin can be prepared like any hard, winter squash. It is excellent roasted, baked & mashed, in stews and soups. It can serve as an edible bowl for serving - one large one for the whole table, or as individual servings using little ones. Pumpkin eaten this way is a good source of Vitamin A, C, E and K, beta and alpha carotenes, lutein and fiber, calcium, magnesium, manganese and other things! Follow this link to check it out:
Pumpkin Nutrition Did you know that the pumpkin flowers are also edible? They also contain Vitamin A, folate, and other nutrients. Throw them in a tossed salad or stir fry for a fun change and bright color!
And we cannot forget pumpkin seeds. The seeds are a very good source of protein and essential fatty acids, magnesium and zinc. They also contain a other minerals and vitamins. They are most often eaten as seed, but can also be ground into a meal. Oil is extracted from the seeds and is a good source of essential fatty acids. It has a very strong flavor, so is often mixed with other oils to temper this.
As with all our wonderful natural food choices, the closer we eat them to their natural state, the more these wonderful nutrients give us nourishment. If you look around a bit at the site linked above as Pumpkin Nutrition, you will see that a Krispy Kreme Glazed Pumpkin Spice Old-Fashioned Doughnut or a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte have lost most, if not all, of the nutritional benefits that this beautiful fruit offers.
Medicinal/Other Uses. Native Americans and Mayan culture used the pumpkin for much more than food. The seeds were ground with water into a paste to cleanse and soothe the skin. It is said that rubbing the leaves of the plant on cattle would discourage flies. Flattened strips of the rind were made into mats.
One of the oldest known medicinal uses for pumpkin was as a vermifuge. Here's your vocabulary lesson for the day! A vermifuge is an agent for expelling intestinal worms. The seeds are quite partial to eliminating tapeworms and, being relatively gentle in this action, are suitable for use by children and pregnant women. Cucurbita doesn't kill the tapeworm, but it prevents it from attaching to the intestinal wall, so it can be passed. If you think you have a tapeworm, the protocol for this procedure is available. Let me know and I'll get it to you!
More recently, pumpkin seeds have been studied for a number of maladies now more common than tapeworms. They appear to reduce the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and benign prostatic hypertrophy, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and support or increase kidney function. A 2007 study in China showed promise for Type I Diabetes in the regeneration of damaged pancreatic cells. Most of these actions are currently being attributed to their high levels of essential fatty acids, anti-oxidants and phytosterols.
In the U. S., the most commonly seen medicinal use is for benign prostatic hypertrophy or BPH, noted above. You will often see pumpkin seed as Cucurbita pepo or C. pepo in formulas promoted as specific to prostate health. It is rarely the primary ingredient, but plays a supporting role with other herbs. Cucurbita does not reduce the size of the prostate itself. Instead, it reduces symptoms commonly caused by BPH by reducing inflammation and supporting kidney and bladder function.
There are no known toxicities of pumpkin and no drug interactions known at this time. So eat away!
Recipes. You can find many recipes for using pumpkin flesh, and remember it can be used just about like any hard winter squash. There are a number of ways to dry and roast the seeds. These all start with washing them well, removing all the pumpkin slime and goo. If you want to simply dry the seeds, you can do that in a warm oven over 3-4 hours or in a dehydrator at 115-120 for 1-2 hours.
Here are two options for roasting the seeds. Take the washed seeds in a ratio of 2 cups water to 1/2 cup seeds and 1/2 tsp of salt to each cup of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes and drain. Put 1 TBSP olive oil in a roasting pan and spread the seeds in one layer. Put in a 400 degree oven on the top rack 10-20 minutes, or until lightly browned. OR
Saute 2 cups of washed seeds in 2 TBSP butter and 1 tsp salt, for about 3 minutes. Spread on a cookie and bake in 250 degree oven about 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.
As you can imagine, you could add other spices if you'd like to jazz them up -- cayenne, cumin, ginger, curry -- your imagination is the only limit!
So enjoy our Fruit of the Month - the pumpkin! A daily handful of seeds and the rotation into your diet of the flesh will be so yummy that you won't even notice that it's so healthy! Consider, too, taking a romp through a pumpkin patch! Maybe bring home a big one that you can sit on in solitude.
Views of the 
One heart beating in your chest. There's a LOT of pressure on that little bundle of muscle! We count on it for our very lives. And while we know a lot about what it does and how it does it, heart disease is still one of the biggest killers in the United States. What are we missing in knowing how to take care of this marvelous pumping machine?