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PUMPKIN FACTS How do you mend a broken Jack-o-lantern?With a pumpkin patch!(joke from:Pumpkin-patch.com)Learn aboutpumpkins with this Fast Facts page!
1.Pumpkins are thought to have originated in Central America, specifically Mexico. Some seeds found date back to 5500 B.C.
2.Top pumpkin growers are U.S. farmers, growing more than 1.5 billion each year.(History.com)
3.The word pumpkin comes from the French word for "large melon", pompon. The English used "pumpion" and colonists used "pumpkin"(Hsgpurchasing.com)
4.The world's heavyweight pumpkin(2016)tipped the scales at 2624.6 pounds! It was grown in the country of Belgium and as of the spring of 2019, it still holds the record!
5.The World's Largest Pumpkin Pie was made in New Bremen, Ohio, in 2010. 1,212 lbs of canned pumpkin, 109 gallons of evaporated milk, 525 pounds of sugar, 14.5 pounds of cinnamon, 7 pounds of salt and 2796 eggs were used. It weighed 3699 pounds.
6.Did you know that pumpkins are 90 percent water?(YardenersPlantHelper.com)
7.Some people used to believe that pumpkins could cure snake bites and help remove freckles!
8.To get a "bowl shaped" haircut, colonists used pumpkin shells as a
9.In addition to orange, pumpkins can be green, yellow, tan, white,red and blue.
10.The "Pumpkin Capital of the World"and home to Libby's Pumpkins is Morton, Illinois.
11. Ohio, Illinois, California and Pennsylvania are the top pumpkin-growing states.
12.The fibrous strands of string and seeds are called the "brains"of the pumpkin.(Pumpkinnook.com)
13.Carving pumpkins originated in Ireland using potatoes,rutabagas and turnips. Irish immigrants to America started using pumpkins as they were
easier to carve and hollow!(http://www.history.com/topics/pumpkin-facts)
14.Part of the squash and cucumber family(cucurbita), pumpkins are actually considered fruit!(Pumpkin-patch.com
15.The record for the most lit pumpkins at one time: 2013,Keene, NH, with 30,581 pumpkins! It still holds the record in 2016.
UPDATE:2023 A man in Minnesota has squashed the previous WORLD record for the biggest pumpkin ever grown. In 2021, a man in Italy grew a pumpkin that tipped the scale at 2703 pounds. Last week, a man in Minnesota, drove his giant pumpkin to the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off, located in Half Moon Bay, CA. His pumpkin weighed in at a whopping 2749 pounds! Travis Gienger, a horticultural teacher, called his pumpkin, which he grew in his backyard, Michael Jordan! Gienger said it cost about $15,000 to care and feed his pumpkin.
A pumpkin grown in the country of (2021) Italy tipped the scale at a whopping 2702. Previously, the record was 2623.5 pounds and was grown in the country of Belgium. Try my webquest on Pumpkins: 10 web questions with several comprehension questions(lots of extension activities). Click here:Pumpkin Webquest |