Pumpkin: Which pumpkins are edible?

Pumpkin: How do you recognize edible pumpkin varieties?

There are 800 different types of pumpkin worldwide, so it can be difficult to keep track. Almost everyone knows the Hokkaido pumpkin by now, after all, it is available in every supermarket just in time for the fall season. The following types of pumpkin are also very popular as table pumpkins:

Pumpkin: Which pumpkins are edible?

You can often recognize an ornamental pumpkin by the fact that it is smaller than a table pumpkin. The pumpkin variety Dancing Gourd, for example, is only three to seven centimeters tall, and the Shenot Crowns look similar. Ornamental pumpkins also often have an unusual shape, for example, they are jagged or have protrusions. This category includes the Autumn Wing. Also eye-catching colors and patterns are a sign that it is an ornamental pumpkin, the Bicolor Spoon, for example, is green and yellow and can be recognized by its elongated shape. But there is also the Gorgonzola pumpkin, which is strikingly colored, but is one of the table pumpkins.

Pumpkin: It's what's inside that counts

Another clue that indicates the type of pumpkin is the pulp. When the pumpkin is the skin is usually thin and the meat abundantThe opposite is true for the inedible representatives. If you are unsure, you can also cut a small piece out of a pumpkin, chew the pulp briefly and then spit it out again: If the pumpkin tastes bitter, you shouldn't eat itOtherwise, there is a risk of stomach pain and nausea, but there are also cases of food poisoning from pumpkins, which have been fatal.

To blame the poisonous bitter substance curcubitacin. It's especially dangerous because the bitterness disappears when the pumpkin is cooked, but the poison remains. In the supermarket, all inedible varieties are declared as "real ornamental pumpkins". If you grow your own pumpkins, you should definitely make sure that Do not cross ornamental and edible pumpkins and it is best to spread the pumpkin seeds in separate beds. Then nothing stands in the way of orange enjoyment – and you can even eat pumpkin raw.

Are all pumpkins poisonous?

Some gourds are as a young fruit quite edible. These include, for example, the crown pumpkin (also known as the clawed pumpkin) and the yellow crookneck pumpkin variety. The following pumpkins, which can also be used as decoration, are completely harmless:

The yellow (or red) hundredweight giant pumpkin known as the Halloween pumpkin is also one of the table pumpkins, but it is not particularly tasty. For a delicious pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie or pumpkin risotto, you should therefore prefer another variety, such as Hokkaido or butternut squash. With us you will find many more pumpkin recipes, we also explain how you can hollow out a pumpkin, prepare pumpkin and freeze pumpkin.

Video tip: Bake cheese and pumpkin muffins