Pumpkins (Whether Carved, Baked or Chucked) Make Fall Fun • by Linda Briggs-Harty
Posted On: 10/05/2004 E-mail This To A Friend!

The sight of pumpkins on steps and lawns in October signals fall’s fruition. While they beg to be carved into ghoulish cutouts, pumpkins invite even the most squeamish of squash eaters to try some sweetened pulp in pies, breads, cakes and such.

David Thies, co-owner with brother Darrell of Thies Farms and Greenhouse in Bel Ridge and Creve Coeur, said about 95 percent of their customers don’t cook the pumpkins they pick up in October. But he stocks the farm markets with pumpkins through November, since cooking with fresh pumpkin is quite popular after Halloween.

Thies conceded that cooks can obtain the needed pulp for recipes from cans. But buying and using pumpkins from area farms offers old-fashioned appreciation for the growth process and keeps family farmers in business, he said. The older of his farms, in Bel-Ridge, is a 10-acre oasis in the midst of a bustling urban area. Each fall, some 16,000 students, who might otherwise not get to see a farm, learn about food production and nutrition on special tours at Thies’.

Every year starting Oct. 2, the Thieses draw urbanites, suburbanites and a few far-flung ruralists to their home-crafted Pumpkinland, located at both farms. Along with picking out pumpkins either from the patch or a pile at the markets, kids-at-heart customers can take wagon rides, soar down slides and gliders propped on straw pyramids, run through straw tunnels and corn mazes and pet a variety of animals, including reindeer.

The Creve Coeur farm, just west of Creve Coeur Park off Creve Coeur Mill Road, is the primary production ground and home to the larger Pumpkinland. Thies said West County development threatens to push out farmers. The farming brothers are trying to buy needed land from owners who rent them space to grow acres of wholesale/retail produce, Thies said.

Thies grows and sells several pumpkin varieties, such as Spooktacular pie pumpkins, Autumn King, Jackpot, Magic Lantern and Aladdin jack-o’-lanterns and specialty pumpkins like the white Casper and flat Cinderella types. Pumpkin connoisseurs sometimes ask for Australian blue or French red. Thies hands a wagon to those in search of the big boys – Prize Winner pumpkins topping 50 to 100 pounds. “Go at it,” he says.

As Thies teaches the school kids on tours, pumpkins are loaded with health virtues: They’re high in fiber and vitamin A and low in calories, cholesterol and sodium, according to the University of Missouri Extension homepage. Cooking pumpkin for pies and breads is a no-brainer: just pierce smaller pumpkins with a sharp knife to prevent explosions and bake whole on a tray in a 325-degree oven. Halve larger pumpkins and bake on cookie sheets, cut side down. Cooking time varies according to size. When they’ve cooled, quarter pumpkins and peel off the outer skin. If it doesn’t peel off easily, then bake some more. Scoop out the seeds and stringy membrane. Mash or purée the pumpkin pulp for immediate use. Freeze if you want to use later. Seeds are great roasted with salt and a bit of oil.

Those with a passion for pumpkins should check out the Punkin Chuckin’ contest in Morton, Ill., Oct. 23 and 24. Participants seek to heave their pumpkins the farthest, with help of homemade catapults and trebuchets. Morton, outside of Peoria, was tagged the Pumpkin Capital of the World, since Nestle Food Company cans 85 percent of the world’s processed pumpkin there.

At the very least, don’t let pumpkins sit on the step this fall. Put them to good use.

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