I brought my boys to a local pumpkin patch, in the spirit of the season, only to discover that WHITE is the new ORANGE when it comes to pumpkins. I don’t know why I’m surprised that there’s a new variety infiltrating pumpkin patches – everything is so innovative these days, thus giving families more choices when selecting the perfect squash to carve, cook or paint. These days there’s just so much more going on…it’s definitely NOT like “when I was a kid.” They’ve probably been around for years too, just so much more prevalent now that I actually noticed.
Anyway, my 3-year old clearly preferred the ‘white’ pumpkins aka ghost pumpkins, while my 2-year old leaned toward the traditional orange, but really liked them all! So, naturally I inquired with the attendant at the patch about these pumpkins – are they like albino or what!?!? And then when I got home, I looked it up…hence the inspiration for this post!
Here’s some of what I found out, according to about.com:
- They have a natural white skin there are specific varieties, such as Lumina, Cotton Candy or miniature Baby Boo. ** Not all white pumpkins are the same!
- Great for carving (softer skin) and even better for painting!
- White pumpkin can also be substituted for orange pumpkin in many recipes, whether you’re baking pumpkin pie or concocting a pumpkin soup.
And, there you have it…white is the new orange when it comes to pumpkins, they’re the latest and greatest, plus I bet they give off a different illumination when you carve them into jack-o-lanterns too!