Pumpkin: the tofu of the vegetable kingdom

October 27, 10:19 AMFood ExaminerEric Burkett

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Beautiful, nutritious, iconic - and like tofu - very versatile.
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So, I’m standing in line at the produce store where I buy much of my produce – very convenient, that – and behind me is a boy of about 9 or 10 and two men. The adults are carrying one large pumpkin each and the kid, bearing an expression of rapture, is holding a smaller one. As if the large displays of pumpkins in stores for the past couple of weeks, to say nothing of retail decorations of witches, black cats, and skeletons weren’t clue enough, few signs of Halloween impending are as sure a thing as that ridiculously happy boy and his pumpkin.

While Halloween without pumpkins is unthinkable, autumn in general without pumpkins is even less bearable. I can think of few dishes I’ve made with pumpkin that weren’t just a pleasure all the way around, which is rather interesting because in and of itself, pumpkin isn’t exactly an explosion of flavor. They can be sweet, they can be earthy, but I’ve never heard anyone refer to a bit of fresh pumpkin in the same manner to which they might refer to pomegranates or apples or some other popular fall fruit.

Despite that, I’ve made wonderful soups, dips, ravioli, and risotto with pumpkin. I’ve filled them with bread and cheese and baked them, doused slices of them heavily with chili and honey and roasted them, and they’re always wonderful. The beauty of pumpkin I suspect is its adaptability. Pumpkins are rather like – forgive me – tofu in that respect.

I asked a few friends about their plans for or experience with pumpkins. One, a professional cook on California’s northern coast, talked about his plans for the sweet pumpkins he had grown in the garden. “Roast ‘em up for puree,” he said. “Pie and risotto are the first two projects.”

Another talked about soups he had made, including James Beard’s recipe for pumpkin and ginger soup, while yet another spat out heretical nonsense concerning his dislike of pumpkin pies and then promptly put in a pitch for his favorite bakery’s pumpkin cupcakes. Still another recalled roasting the seeds when he was a kid.

Pumpkins, with their origins in the Americas (archaeological evidence suggests pumpkins were eaten in Mexico as long as 7,000 years ago), are popular around the world and used in a wide variety of ways. They remain, however, as American as, um, apple pie and that’s a fine thing. Pumpkins, as it happens, are full of nutrition. Rich in fiber and vitamins they’re veritable storehouses of “Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus” according to Nutrition Data, “and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Riboflavin, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.”

Best of all, perhaps, is that by carving scary faces into them and lighting them with a candle from within, they protect us from demons and goblins and ghosts. I mean, what more could you ask from a vegetable?