NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
October 5, 2000
Do you know why jack-o-lanterns grin so broadly? They know how nutritious they are, and they’ve escaped being eaten.
Carving and lighting up vegetables is a custom dating back to the Celts in the areas that are now Great Britain and France. Large turnips were carved into makeshift lanterns, and candles were placed inside to scare evil spirits away on Oct. 31. According to legend, the original "Jack" was a mean old guy who didn’t make it to heaven and was doomed to wander the earth with a carved turnip lit up by a lump of hot coal.
When early settlers arrived in America, they spotted the large orange pumpkins, and the turnip’s glory days ended. As the settlers traveled across America, jack-o-lanterns came along and became the most enduring symbol of Halloween.
Here’s a recipe from the Oregon Dairy Council for some heart-healthy pumpkin muffins that could make old Jack O. Lantern grin in pride.
Pumpkin Bran MuffinsIngredients:
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 16-ounce can pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup bran cereal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons each -- cinnamon and cloves
1/4 teaspoon each -- allspice and gingerProcedure:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin, oil, milk, sugar and bran. Mix well. In smaller bowl, stir together remaining ingredients and then add to pumpkin mixture. Do not overmix. Fill lined or greased muffin tins almost full. Bake 30 minutes in 350 degree oven. Cool muffin pan on wire rack before removing muffins. Makes 18 muffins.
Each muffin contains about 130 calories, 4 grams of fat and 3 grams of dietary
fiber. You can also substitute fresh pumpkin that’s been cooked and mashed in
place of the canned.
There are several reasons to include pumpkin and other dark orange or gold vegetables on the menu. Besides tasting good, pumpkin is an excellent source of beta-carotenes, a pigment that our bodies use to make vitamin A. Vitamin A helps keep skin and tissues healthy, helps our eyes see normally in the dark and works as an antioxidant nutrient that could lower our risk for certain kinds of cancer. Pumpkin also is a good source of fiber, plus it’s naturally low in fat and sodium.
When harvesting pumpkins, make sure they are well matured on the vine, with hard skin not easily punctured by your thumbnail. Cut them from the vine with part of the stem still attached. Before storing, pumpkins should be "cured." That means leaving them in a well-ventilated area at a temperature of 75 to 85 degrees for two weeks. If it’s warm outside, the curing process can be done right in the pumpkin patch by placing them in small piles. After curing, store pumpkins in a dry area at about 50 degrees.
Handle pumpkins carefully to avoid bruising their surfaces, which could lead to spoilage . Small, heavy pumpkins are sometimes sold as "pie " or "sugar" pumpkins because they have more pulp than large pumpkins meant for carving. If you want your pumpkin to do double duty, try decorating it without carving it. Use non-toxic paint to give your pumpkin personality, or glue on some decorations. If the pumpkin remains in good shape after Halloween, wash it thoroughly, poke holes in it and bake it at 325 degrees until it’s easily pierced with a knife. Scoop out the pulp, season as desired and serve, or use it to make muffins, pancakes, soup or other recipes.
Pumpkin can be pressure canned if it’s cut into one-inch chunks and canned according to current guidelines. Pumpkin should not be mashed before canning because there are no research-tested safe procedures developed for mashed pumpkin. Cooked mashed pumpkin can be frozen safely. Package mashed pumpkin in freezer containers or bags according to your recipe amounts.
Even pumpkin seeds are good snacks. After removing the pumpkin pulp, wash off the seeds, blot them with a paper towel, toss them with a little vegetable oil, place them on a baking sheet and bake 10 or 15 minutes at 250 degrees, stirring occasionally. If you like, you can salt them slightly.
Celebrate fall with pumpkin carving and pumpkin recipes. Your family will grin in approval.
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Source: Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629