Pumpkin began to grow even before our era in America. In ancient Egypt, this plant was a delicacy. The ancient Romans learned how to make durable vessels from pumpkin. In China, such dishes were placed only on the table of the imperial family.
Today it is a useful and beloved by many product that has firmly entered the diet of a modern person who cares about his health.
Pumpkin: Description
This is an annual with a powerful, well-developed root system and a creeping grassy stem. It is prickly, pentahedral, forms tendrils in the axils of the leaves, with the help of which the plant clings to the supports and stretches upward. The stem can be up to eight meters long.
Five-lobed large leaves also cover small hairs. Pumpkin blooms with orange or yellow large single flowers, which from afar attract the attention of pollinating insects. They are male, same-sex, have a long pedicel. Flowering begins in late June and continues until early July.
Thick-skinned fruits ripen in autumn. Their shape, size and color depend on the cultivated variety. Inside, under a dense skin, there is an oily juicy pulp with many white large seeds.
Flasks, jugs, bottles, cups are made from utensils of pumpkins (lagenarii). It is believed that such dishes have good energy.
Variety of species
There are many varieties of pumpkins in the world. They differ in size and shape, color and taste, as well as the scope. They are very small, the size of a pear, or giant. They can be spherical and flattened, serpentine and bulbous, star-shaped. Some of them are smooth, others are hilly and rough.
And the fruits also differ in color - orange, yellow. These colors are familiar to most of our readers. Is there a green pumpkin? And not only. Some varieties are painted in red, white, brown, gray. There are striped and spotted representatives in this large family.
Popular Cultural Views
To date, three of them have gained particular popularity.
Hard bark
It is distinguished by a ribbed peduncle, on which grooves are pronounced. She came to us from Mexico, and her three species are known: long-toed (gives small, but numerous fruits), bush (zucchini and squash), decorative.
Nutmeg
Has a five-sided peduncle, which extends to the base. The surface is ribbed or smooth, the shape is elongated, at first the fruits are painted green, but as it ripens it becomes yellow or brown. The seed chamber is small, and the layer of pulp is thick.
Large-fruited
This species has a rounded cylindrical peduncle. The fruits are flat with a bumpy surface and very sweet in taste. In this culture, three varieties are distinguished: sulfur, winter and mammoth.
Green pumpkin: varieties
Varieties of this popular worldwide and very useful plant - a great variety. Some of them are grown for animal feed, others are famous for their sweetness and juiciness, for which they are very fond of culinary experts, others are rich in valuable seeds. In recent years, decorative pumpkin varieties have also become popular . In all these varieties, green pumpkin is found (you can see the photo in this article).
Large-fruited crops: “winter treat”
Mid-season, short-haired variety. Green (dark) pumpkin with black dots. The fruit has a rounded shape. Weight - about 5 kg. The pulp is dense, painted in a bright orange color.
"Miranda"
The semi-bushy plant belongs to mid-ripening varieties. Fruits green have a gray speckled, rounded. Mass - about 4 kg. The pulp has a pleasant taste, dense. Seeds do not have a hard shell. The variety is unpretentious in care, gives a good harvest even in difficult climatic conditions.
"Princess Frog"
This is a wonderful mid-late variety with dark green fruits. They have a chalmoid shape, wrinkled. Weight can reach 10 kg. The pulp is dense light orange, very juicy. This variety is a valuable diet crop.
Hard bark species
This group of plants got its name due to a very dense and coarse layer of bark, which gains strength as it ripens. This is the earliest species grown in Russian gardens, but pumpkin lovers should be aware that their flesh is quite rough, so you need to carefully choose varieties for growing. Today, many interesting varieties and hybrids of pumpkin are offered, among which you can choose plants of an unusual appearance and taste.
"Harlequin"
The green pumpkin of this variety is reminiscent of the butternut pumpkin to taste. Her shape is slightly flattened. Pumpkin is not large. The green peel of the fruit is covered with small spots. The pulp is dense, light orange in color. The taste is very delicate and pleasant.
"Freckle"
Another hard-bark variety that fully corresponds to its name: small rounded fruits (no more than 2 kg) are painted green and covered with white-yellow spots. This variety is ideal for small areas due to its compactness. The plant has short whips, it is bushy, it is demanding for moisture. The pulp is light orange, not too sweet, but with a delicate pear aroma. The seeds are small.
Acorn
This pumpkin is often called acorn, due to the similarity of its small fruits with acorns. The pulp is sweet, rich yellow. The peel can have a variety of colors - from orange to dark green, as well as combinations of these colors.
Marble
Late-ripening variety, characterized by wrinkled flattened fruits that do not exceed five kilograms. This pumpkin has a very high yield and excellent keeping quality. The pulp is sweet, bright orange, juicy. The peel is gray-green with lighter dots and stripes that form a marble color. It can be used both in cooking and as a forage crop.
"Vitamin"
One of the latest varieties - from the first seedlings to ripening, takes at least one hundred and thirty days. This nutmeg variety is famous for its wide, oval or cylindrical shape, with ribbing pronounced closer to the stem. Ripe pumpkin is painted in a brown with a pinkish tint color, with a grid of greenish roundish spots. The pulp is dark orange, almost red, crunchy, sweet, rich in carotene. The weight of the fetus is about 5 kg.
Marina di Chioggia
The fruits of this famous Italian variety of nutmeg pumpkin, which has perfectly taken root in our country, are impressive. The questions immediately arise: "The pumpkin is green inside, is it possible to eat it?" Yes, it is possible, and even necessary, because it is very useful.
This variety can produce fruits up to 10 kg, although more often its weight does not exceed 6 kg. The pulp is dense, slightly dry, orange in color. This variety is stored for up to six months, without losing its taste.
Decorative fruit
Now let's talk about a very interesting variety of pumpkins. The garden today should be not only useful in all respects, but also beautiful. That is why with each season decorative types of pumpkins are becoming more and more popular. They have many advantages. Many beginner gardeners are interested in: "What is a decorative green pumpkin, is it possible to eat it?"
These species were bred by beauty breeders, so their taste qualities were not taken into account in most cases. As practice shows, decorative green pumpkin, if it is suitable for eating, is only at a young age. Ripened, it is distinguished by a very firm crust, has no taste and is not of interest either to people or even to animals.
When purchasing seeds in a store, the manufacturer often indicates on the packaging whether the variety is edible or not. If there are no such recommendations from the company, then nothing will stop you from experimenting. Decorative green pumpkin will not be poisonous, but tasteless, solid or having a slightly specific taste - most likely, yes.
Nevertheless, decorative pumpkins can have excellent taste. An example of this is the green Shyot pumpkin. In addition to the original look, it has a great taste, reminiscent of an apple, and portion sizes. This is a winter variety. Sufficiently large seeds have this small green pumpkin. Recipes for cooking dishes from it are no different from those for summer types. But the main feature of this variety is that this small green pumpkin will also become an original decoration of your garden.
"Lagenaria" and "cucurbita"
And these varieties are grown only for decorative purposes. The fruits of these varieties are distinguished by unusual shapes, strong peel, which allows them to make various decorations for the garden. They are used in Halloween. Harvest should be removed from the garden until the first frost, otherwise the peel will be damaged and the pumpkin will simply rot.
After harvesting, the fruits are wiped with a dry cloth and dried in a dark, cool place naturally. It is important that they do not touch. In the drying process, they should be regularly wiped dry and make sure that mold does not appear. The completely dried fruits are light, and seeds are sprinkled in them, as if in a rattle.
Useful properties of pumpkin
The pulp of fruits is not only tasty, but also very useful, pumpkin is a storehouse of vitamins and valuable minerals. It contains pectins, proteins, fiber, carotene, acid, sugar. The seeds contain a large amount of essential oils, zinc. Pumpkin belongs to low-calorie foods, for this reason it is included in many diets. Pumpkin seeds are dried and used in folk medicine as an anthelmintic and for the treatment of prostatitis. In addition, when fried, it’s just a tasty treat, which is often used in cooking.
Healing properties
Pumpkin dishes should be included in each person’s diet. This is especially important for people suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liver. Pumpkin can relieve depression, insomnia. This product must be included in the diet of children from a very young age (cereal, juice). In addition, pumpkin dishes are recommended for anyone suffering from malnutrition, tuberculosis, hypertension, and liver and kidney diseases. You should not give up the regular use of pumpkins for heart diseases, increased production of gastric juice, and inflammatory processes in the digestive tract.
Green pumpkin: what to cook?
This healthy and tasty product is loved by both adults and children. A dish from it and with the addition of it as one of the ingredients is a great variety. And do not be confused that our today's heroine is a green pumpkin. Recipes are no different from her relatives with any other skin color.
Roasted pumpkin
To prepare this dish you will need:
- pumpkin - 1 kg;
- vegetable oil - 1/2 cup;
- sour cream - 400 g;
- breadcrumbs - 60 g;
- salt.
Peel the pumpkin and peel and seeds. Cut it into thin slices (approximately 3 mm). Salt them a little, bread in breadcrumbs and fry on both sides in a frying pan in oil. Before serving slices of pumpkin, pour sour cream.
Green pumpkin jam
And now we offer you a very unusual recipe. Throw the pumpkin on the floor so that it crashes. Without touching it with a knife and other metal objects that give a metallic taste, remove seeds and yellow veins with your hands. Pieces of pumpkin are boiled in salted water until the peel is left behind from the pulp.
Now boiled pumpkin must be poured with cold water and remove the skin with your hands. The pulp should be pulled in the water, as if you wash it until foam appears. Periodically, water must be changed. Then the pumpkin is immersed in brine. It is prepared at the rate of 50 g of coarse salt per liter of water, and left in it for a day.
After this time, the brine is drained, the pulp is washed and poured with clean water for another day. After this, it is necessary to drain the water and weigh the pulp. Mix it with an equal amount of sugar. Two cinnamon sticks are added to this mixture and the container is put on low heat. It must be constantly stirred so as not to burn. The jam will be ready when it becomes brownish.
Pumpkin in a pot
Cut the peel from the pumpkin, cut into small cubes, put into pots. Add prunes, raisins, dried apricots. A great dessert is cooked under closed covers in the oven for about forty minutes. This dish is very loved by children.
Pumpkin with honey in a slow cooker
Wash the pumpkin, remove the seeds, cut the fruit into slices, like a melon, without peeling the peel. Place them in the multicooker bowl, peel down. Add water (half a cup) so that the pumpkin does not burn during cooking. Top with honey (two tablespoons) and sprinkle cinnamon on the dish. Cooking time 30 minutes in the "baking" mode. After cooking, remove the dish from the slow cooker, remove the peel. Put the pumpkin in a bowl and garnish with a mint leaf.