Pumpkins – Dale’s Daily Data

The word pumpkin comes from a Greek word meaning large melon. They’re believed to be native to North America, but they’re grown on every continent around the world except Antarctica.

The United States, China, Mexico and India are the biggest producers of pumpkins. In this country, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennyslvania and California are the top five states for pumpkins. Of the processed pumpkin available in stores – the stuff you buy in a can – 95 percent comes from pumpkins grown in Illinois.

They’re in the same family as squash and melons. Pumpkins range in size from less than a pound to thousands of pounds. For many years the world record largest pumpkin was 460 pounds, but in 1981 Howard Dill of Nova Scotia grew a 500 pound pumpkin to set a new record. He placed a patent on the seeds he used to grow that big pumpkin and all of the giant pumpkins grown today are derived from one big pumpkin. They’re known as Dill’s Atlantic Giant Pumpkin seeds. The current record for a giant pumpkin is 1,810 pounds.

We’ve got a pumkin carving contest going on at wyrk.com. You could win a package of prizes including a t-shirt, movies, candy, decorations.

SOURCE: wikipedia