Pretty Pumpkins

When it comes to pumpkins vs. sweet potatoes, my family of enthusiastic sweet potato fans pick pumpkins for eye-candy.

“Advice for a pumpkin: be well-rounded, get plenty of sunshine…have thick skin, keep growing, be outstanding in your field, think big.” — Unknown

Photo by Donna B. Pierce

I remember Dad’s description of a long-ago “long distance” call to Tuskegee for advice about pumpkins from his sister. Later he said Aunt Lya, a registered dietician (RD) from Howard University in the 1940s, informed him that although she preferred sweet potatoes, her pumpkin reference from The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Farmer, offered two sentences without any tips about picking or selecting them.

“Pumpkins are boiled or steamed same as squash, but require longer cooking. They are principally used for making pies.”

Still, when we were growing up, my sibs and I looked forward to the annual Autumn weekend Dad organized to bring home several dozen of these assorted gourds.

Excitement grew later when we watched him set up the makeshift workshop of buckets propped strategically near our weathered backyard pi…