DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

Are Pumpkins Vegetables or Fruits?    The answer to that commonly asked question depends on who you ask.  Technically, they are a fruit.  This is because fruits are generally classified as having seeds.  Pumpkins have seeds; thus, it is a fruit.  So if you are ever on a game show trying to win a million dollars and you get asked whether it's a fruit or vegetable, go with fruit.  But for those people out there who always thought it was a vegetable rather than a fruit, don't worry, you aren't that wrong.  In culinary terms, it would be classified as a vegetable and not a fruit.  The word fruit is usually used to only describe food that is "sweet and fleshy". Growing Them     To grow them, you plant the seeds around the end of May to the mid part of June.  The seeds are planted in groups call hills.  It takes three to four months for them to grow.  In the process of growing, they don't just grow in size but ...

 The Great Pumkin Trojan Horse     The pumpkin has been around in the U.S. long before the pilgrims first landed on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.  Most scientists seem to think that the tasty squash (pumpkins are part of the squash family) was first cultivated in southern Mexico over a thousand years ago, and gradually the large vegetable spread north along with maize, squash and beans.  These newly developed crops greatly changed the way the Indians lived.  Native populations increased and cultures flourished as many parts of North America saw a change in Native life that went from hunter and gatherer towards farmer.    Every yer the Thanksgiving holiday gives us a chance to have a big feast, reconnect with long lost relatives and watch football.  Most Americans have some inkling of the vast array of modern foods that originated in the Americas, and also of the importance of corn in the aboriginal diet, but the story is much more fascinatin...