Pumpkin time is here. Almost every grocery market and garden center have them loaded and stacked and ready to sell. There are also farmer’s with parked trucks full of them, pumpkin patches, and churches and schools selling them. What is your P.I.Q. (Pumpkin Intelligence Quotient)?
1. A pumpkin is: A vegetable; a protein; a mineral; a fruit.
2. The largest pumpkin ever grown was: 800 pounds; 1810.5 pounds; 525.8 pounds; 1502.2 pounds.
3. Pumpkins can grow in every country except: South America; Africa; Alaska; Antarctica.
4. What is the percentage of water in a pumpkin? 50 percent; 90 percent; 75 percent; 2 percent.
5. Which state grows the most pumpkins: Alabama; Arkansas; Arizona; Illinois; Florida.
6. Which country did the tradition of carving pumpkins come from? Italy; Yugoslavia; Ireland; England; Germany.
7. In Colonial times, what was meant by the term “pumpkin head?” The pumpkin meat was placed on the forehead of a sick person to draw out the fever; During Halloween, they had pumpkin lookalike contests; pumpkin halves were used as guides for haircuts; it meant they were empty headed, referring to the hollow sound made when tapping a pumpkin.
8. Native American Indians used pumpkins for: Food; food and medicine; floor mats; all of the above.
9. How did pumpkin pie originate? Someone accidentally poured cinnamon instead of chili powder into a pumpkin that had been carved out to be used as a pot for making chili; As a dessert, colonists would hollow out a pumpkin, fill it with milk, spices, and honey, and then roast it in hot ashes; a woman who was entertaining guests filled a pie crust with roasted pumpkin when she realized she was out of apple pie filling.
10. Pumpkins are members of the family Cucurbitacae, which also includes: cucumbers; cauliflower; squash; broccoli.
ANSWERS
1. A fruit. 2. Breaking the world record pumpkin weight has become an annual event. So, it’s no surprise to learn that the record was broken again in 2010. What is a surprise was the weight – a record smashing 1810.5 pounds Chris Stevens of New Richmond, Wisc., brought his 1810.5 pound pumpkin to the Stillwater Harvest fest in Stillwater, Minn., on Oct. 9, 2010. 3. Antarctica. 4. Believe it or not, 90 percent. 5. Illinois followed by California. 6. Ireland. 7. Pumpkin halves were used as guides for haircuts. 8. All of the above. 9. As a dessert, colonists would hollow out a pumpkin and fill it with milk, spices, and honey and then roast it on hot ashes. 10. Technically a squash, pumpkins, gourds, and other varieties of squash are all members of the family Cucurbitacae, which also includes cucumbers, gherkins, and melons.