Go beyond pumpkin pie and porch decorations with heirloom and cooking pumpkins that are so good to eat. Turn them into soups, ravioli stuffing, curries, stews, and other savories to be enjoyed this fall and winter.
Choose an heirloom neck pumpkin, the blue Grey Ghost, the French pumpkin Maria de Chioggia, or Poppy the Pink Banana pumpkin from Double Star Farms at the Farmers Market at the Washington University School of Medicine and at Tower Grove Farmers’ Market this fall. They’ll also have Kabochas and Blue Hubbards. Both are technically squash, but they cook like pumpkins.
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Visit the Mitchell’s Farm Stand for such unusual pumpkins as the pink Porcelain Doll. Try the Speckled Hound, Fairytale, or Red Warty Thing for a something new. Pick up a blue Triamble, with its deeply delving ribs, or a Rouge Vif d’Etampes, a bright-red wheel pumpkin, at Soulard Farmers Market, stalls 33 and 34 on the northeast wing.
While you’re there, take the young ’uns to the Scharf Farm stand, stalls 37–39, for a sweet Fall Splendor pumpkin sized just right for kids. This first-generation hybrid from the Holmes Seed Company has a strong carry-handle stem that won’t break off and weighs in at a compact 5 to 7 pounds. It’s a good pie pumpkin, smooth-fleshed and meaty.
