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PUMPKIN

See also: Article on Pumpkins; Quotes

99% of all pumpkins are sold for decorations.

Pumpkin takes its name from the medieval French word 'pompom', meaning 'cooked by the sun.'  (Ultimately, probably from the Greek 'pepon.')

When Howard Dill of Ontario, Canada, known as the Pumpkin King, sent one of his championship pumpkins to the U.S. for a competition, customs officials called drug agents, not believing that there could be a 616 pound pumpkin in the crate.

Championship pumpkins today are over 800 pounds. These pumpkins grow 10 to 15 pounds per day!

Pumpkin halves were supposedly used as guides for haircuts in colonial New Haven, Connecticut, giving rise to the nickname 'pumpkinhead.'

Total U.S. pumpkin production in 2003 was 805 million pounds. Illinois, with a production of 326 million pounds, led the country. There also were big pumpkin patches in California (150 million pounds produced), Pennsylvania (117 million), New York (107 million) and Michigan (60 million). The value of all these pumpkins was $81 million.
US Census Bureau, October, 2004