The Savvy’s Yinzer’s Guide to: Pumpkins
Here are five fun facts about your favorite gourd.
Pumpkins are having a moment. Every autumn, we haul them onto porches, carve faces into their flesh and roast their guts (the seeds, anyway). Then we pay good money to get lost in a corn maze designed by someone with too much time on their hands. Thanks to Charlie Brown and Linus, we even have a mythical pumpkin deity that is more elusive than Bigfoot. So, give the humble gourd its due — it’s got a few tricks up its orange sleeve. And did you know …
1: On Oct. 10, 2026, Rhode Island grower Ron Wallace set a new world record with a truly great pumpkin weighing 3,156 pounds — the first to break the 3,000-pound barrier. (That’s roughly the weight of a small car!) Wallace grew the giant in a greenhouse, and it could theoretically yield more than 3,000 pumpkin pies.
2: Forget the flimsy scoop in your carving kit. A sturdy ice cream scoop makes quick work of stringy pulp and seeds. For intricate designs, scrape the flesh thinner behind the areas you’ll cut, making the walls easier to carve. Another pro tip: cut the opening in the bottom rather than the top to preserve the pumpkin’s natural silhouette.
3: Pumpkin seeds are packed with nutrients, including magnesium, zinc and protein. Rinse away the pulp, dry the seeds thoroughly, toss with a little olive oil and salt, then roast in a single layer until crisp. For a more adventurous snack, try chili-lime seasoning or cinnamon-maple.
4: Rouge Vif d’Étampes is a French heirloom variety of pumpkin with a flattened, deeply ribbed, reddish-orange shape that resembles the carriage in Disney’s “Cinderella.” The variety predates the film by centuries, of course, but its fairytale appearance has earned it the nickname “Cinderella’s Carriage.” It’s ornamental, photogenic and edible — a pumpkin for the storybooks.
5: Linus first introduced the Great Pumpkin in the Peanuts comic strip on Oct. 26, 1959 — seven years before the television special debuted. Creator Charles Schulz developed the idea of a visitor to the pumpkin patch who delivers toys as a comic parody of Santa Claus. Now that’s sincere!
