CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Fall is here and it’s time to harvest your favorite fruits and veggies.
The month of October is all about pumpkin this, pumpkin that, and the word of the season seems to be pumpkin.
Pumpkins are synonymous with fall, a pop of color for your doorstep and sweetness for your taste buds. Pumpkin flavor is popular among many food items during fall.
Most are grown locally in the North Carolina mountains. However, high humidity and wet leaves can cause disease.
“The climate is good for pumpkins up in the mountains," said William Carrigan of Carrigan Farms in Mooresville. "They grow a lot of pumpkins – the cooler weather. Down in the Piedmont, we can still grow some pumpkins – it’s a little hotter."
The word pumpkin dates to the 17th Century and the Guinness World Record for the heaviest pumpkin weighs in at over 2,700 pounds. With more than 45 different varieties, some are simply better for baking.
“These are bred to look pretty and stay pretty for a long time, but they are not the best eating quality pumpkins. They are a little stringier – the texture is not great; they aren’t as sweet, Carrigan said, motioning to a large, orange pumpkin.
"If you get a special cooking pumpkin, it might not look pretty like this, it will look gnarly and wrinkled and bumpy,” Carrigan added, showing off other pumpkins in different shades such as green and dusty orange.
Each pumpkin contains about 500 seeds, and they are nearly 90 percent water – making them a low-calorie food.
The Tar Heel State ranks in the top 10 for pumpkin production annually. A report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows North Carolina grew 3,600 acres of pumpkins in 2022.
And if you’re curious if this is a fruit or vegetable – if you guessed fruit – you’re right.
Contact KJ Jacobs at kjacobs3@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.