All pumpkins are edible. Some are just much better than others for eating. The pumpkin family (Cucurbita) is a winter squash, with a hard shell. Although the shell is often declared inedible I do know people that eat the the skin, once cooked. Pumpkins are related to all squash, gourds and cucumbers.

To keep things simple I consider pumpkins to be in one of two categories: edible and ornamental. If someone has grown the monster, prize-winning 700 pound pumpkin it is ediblish… it’s just kind of flavourless and the flesh is stringy. The little tiny, cute white ones? Not much meat ( called pulp) and also rather flavourless. Over the decades pumpkins have been bred or selected to fill one of those two categories.

If you wish to cook or bake with a pumpkin you should be looking for a sugar, pie or sweet pumpkin, not a Jack-o-Lantern or carving pumpkin. At the grocery store they are very rarely named; you’ll have better luck at a Farmers’ Market, where the growers will know what they planted. Pie pumpkins are sweet and the flesh is smooth and dense. Most pie pumpkins are small to medium sized. Look for ‘Sugar and Spice’, ‘Baby Bear’, ‘Sweet Sugar’, to name a few.

May I offer a few alternatives? When we were market gardeners, we grew over twenty winter squash. Many are inter-changeable in recipes. Butternut squash pie? Absolutely! Acorn squash muffins? Yum. Kabocha loaf, yes please! Still, some of my favorites are Jarrahdale, a blue-skinned heirloom that is also decorative until you’re ready to cook it. Long Island Cheese is a flat, pale peachy-beige skinned squash so sweet! Oh, and the Hubbards! Big, sometimes blue-skinned with sweet dense orange flesh; delightful eating. Check out this list here for some great eating, also check out all their recipes on Pumpkin Patches and More. Although don’t look for pumpkin patches there unless you’re in America.

Whatever kind of pumpkin you have, do save the seeds. Roasted pumpkin seeds are delicious and healthy snacking. Here’s the steps of the process here. Our chickens and goats loved them, too. You may find some claims that pumpkin seeds are an effective de-wormer for your critters, but do read this article first.

Pumpkins and all winter squash should store well in a cool (but frost free) place with low light. We’d wipe them all down with hydrogen peroxide to eliminate mold and fungus, we’d eat first any with blemishes and soft spots. We’ve eaten winter squash from our garden well into the New Year. And the variety that is possible is amazing: pasta sauce, soup, stew, risotto, muffins, cookies, cheesecake, bread and loaves. Check out this gallery of pumpkin recipes here from Delish Magazine.

Happy Pumpkin Season!