A pumpkin is a cultivar of winter squash that is round with smooth, slightly ribbed skin, and most often deep yellow to orange in coloration.[1] The thick shell contains the seeds and pulp. The name is most commonly used for cultivars of Cucurbita pepo, but some cultivars of Cucurbita maxima, C. argyrosperma, and C. moschata with similar appearance are also sometimes called “pumpkin”.[1]
Native to North America (northeastern Mexico and the southern United States),[1] pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants, having been used as early as 7,500 to 5,000 BC.[1] Pumpkins are widely grown for commercial use and are used both for food and recreation. Pumpkin pie, for instance, is a traditional part of Thanksgiving meals in Canada and the United States, and pumpkins are frequently carved as jack-o’-lanterns for decoration around Halloween, although commercially canned pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie fillings are usually made from different kinds of winter squash than the ones used for jack-o’-lanterns.[1]
The word pumpkin originates from the word pepon (πέπων), which is Greek for “large melon”, something round and large.[2] The French adapted this word to pompon, which the British changed to pumpion and to the later American colonists became known as pumpkin.[3]
The term pumpkin has no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning,[4] and is used interchangeably with “squash” and “winter squash”.[1] In North America and the United Kingdom, pumpkin traditionally refers to only certain round orange varieties of winter squash, predominantly derived from Cucurbita pepo, while in New Zealand and Australian English, the term pumpkin generally refers to all winter squash.
Pumpkins, like other squash, originated in northeastern Mexico and southern United States.[1] The oldest evidence were pumpkin fragments dated between 7,000 and 5,500 BC found in Mexico.[1] Pumpkin fruits are a type of botanical berry known as a pepo.[1][6]
Male (top) and female (bottom) pumpkin flowers
Traditional C. pepo pumpkins generally weigh between 3 and 8 kilograms (6 and 18 lb), though the largest cultivars (of the species C. maxima) regularly reach weights of over 34 kg (75 lb).[7]
The color of pumpkins derives from orange carotenoid pigments, including beta-cryptoxanthin, alpha and beta carotene, all of which are provitamin A compounds converted to vitamin A in the body.[8]
All pumpkins are winter squash, mature fruit of certain species in the genus Cucurbita. Characteristics commonly used to define “pumpkin” include smooth and slightly ribbed skin,[9] and deep yellow to orange[9] color. Circa 2005, white pumpkins had become increasingly popular in the United States.[10] Other colors, including dark green (as with some oilseed pumpkins), also exist.
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