It is the start of pumpkin season as they are ripening in the home gardens and being found at the stores. A mature, ripe pumpkin with an undamaged rind and a few inches of attached stem can be stored between 50 and 55 degrees until next spring. It must not be exposed to a frost. After harvesting, a pumpkin should be kept at around 80 degrees for a week, before moving it into the low humidity cold storage.

Hubbard and butternut squash can also be saved in the same manner. On the other hand, acorn squash don't need the 80-degree storage; they should be kept at 15 to 50 degrees where they will last about two months.

Originally from Central America, the skins of pumpkins were dried in strips and woven into mats. Pumpkins came to Europe in the 1300s — they were cooked by removing the seeds and filling the insides with milk, honey and spices before setting them on hot coals. Grandma's pies and pumpkin bread seem much more civilized, tastier and easier to eat.

The top state to grow pumpkins for fresh and canned eating is Illinois. In fact, 90 percent of all the pumpkins produced in the United States grow in 10 Illinois' counties where around 500 million pounds are produced per year. Charlie Brown's great pumpkin must reside near Peoria, Ill., as that is the center of this region. Other big producers are Ohio, Pennsylvania and California.

Pumpkins are a fruit composed of approximately 90 percent water; they are also high in vitamin A and potassium. The pumpkin is versatile as a food product: Use pumpkins in soup, pies, breads, or put the seeds in snack foods. The flowers are even edible. They used to be recommended as a cure for freckles and snakebites.

The Irish seem to be responsible for creating the jack-o'-lantern. They celebrated All Hallows Eve on Oct. 31 at the end of the Celtic calendar with the display of candles in hollowed-out vegetables. They put hollowed-out beets, potatoes, rutabagas and turnips on windowsills to welcome deceased ancestors and to warn off evil spirits.

One such restless spirit was Stingy Jack. He was so stingy that he was able to trick the devil, not once, but several times. During his tricks, he was able to obtain a guarantee from the devil not to take his soul. Well, when Jack died, God didn't allow such an unsavory fellow into heaven; therefore, he was left to wander around. The devil did give him a hot coal to carry for light; he placed it in a hollow turnip. He was called Jack of the Lantern, which eventually was shortened to jack-o'-lantern.

In Ireland, people carved scary faces into the turnips and potatoes to scare away Jack and his friends. In England, they used large beets. When the tradition made its way to the 13 Colonies, pumpkins were carved for the occasion.

New traditions need to be created every once in awhile. I have used a compressed air-powered "cannon" to propel potatoes and other similarly sized objects high into the air, maybe as far away as a football field, but I haven't been involved in the tradition of pumpkin throwing.

If you really want to see fruit fly, you need to go to the Pumpkin Capital of the World, Morton, Ill., on Oct. 18 and 19 for the 12th annual Punkin Chuckin contest. Or the World Champion Punkin Chunkin contest is located in Lewes, Del., from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.

A variety of machines with various power sources compete for pride and prizes to see who can throw a pumpkin the farthest. So far, the top range is about 4,200 feet; there is still plenty of opportunity for someone to try to throw the distance of a full mile.

E-mail questions to Jeff Rugg, Kendall County unit educator, University of Illinois Extension at jrugg@uiuc.edu. To find out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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