Bear Picks a Pumpkin (Pumpkin Spice and a Little Bear That’s Nice)

By the time you read this blog post, you’ll have already been inundated with pumpkin spice everything. It feels like every year the flavor pops up earlier than the last. And it’s not just pumpkin spice-flavored coffee and lattes anymore. It is in donuts, muffins, bagels, and even pancake mix (which I happen to have in my pantry right now). Did you know you can now get pumpkin spice Cheerios? (It’s delicious, by the way.)

While many of you are cheering on this yearly re-surfacing of your favorite fall flavor, others are taking to the internet to #StopTheMadness. I honestly don’t love pumpkin spice. However, I do like that its arrival signals that one of my favorite seasons is just around the corner.

To celebrate the cooler temperature and the turning color of leaves, I offer you not another product laced with pumpkin spice but a few but interesting facts about the fruit, yes fruit, that is causing such a stir. There are many facts here that you and your kids will love!

• Scientifically speaking, pumpkins are a fruit (they contain seeds) but when it comes to cooking, they are often referred to as vegetables.
• Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats. They also used pumpkin seeds for medicine and food.
• In early colonial days, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
• Whole pumpkins that are uncut can be stored up to three months in a cool dark place. And, the longer you store them, the sweeter and nuttier the flavor becomes.
• Pumpkins are grown on all but one continent, Antarctica.
• The heaviest pumpkin recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records weighed in at 2,032 pounds.
• Pumpkins are 90% water and are high in fiber, contain Vitamin A, Vitamin B, potassium, protein, and iron.
• Pumpkins were once believed to remove freckles and to cure snake bites.
• In 2017, pumpkin-flavored sales totaled over $414 million.

Can’t get enough of this winter squash? You and your kids can cozy up by the fire and read Bear Picks a Pumpkin by Gill Guile. Even if pumpkin spice doesn’t make you smile I guarantee this little bear’s attempt to find the perfect pumpkin will.

* * *

Your Turn

Are you caught up in the pumpkin spice craze? What things do your family love most about Fall?