Pumpkin for porridge, pie and soup: we choose the best in the store

To choose a pumpkin in a store, it is not enough to measure its weight with the estimated costs of the product. Among the variety of these vegetables, both very sweet and tasteless specimens are hidden, and all of them differ in shape, color, size and price. Only knowing all the pumpkin secrets, you can accurately take from the shelf that fruit that will fully meet expectations.

By appointment

Before you go for a pumpkin, you need to decide why it is needed, because for some dishes you need honey-sweet fruits, and for others vegetables are better suited without a pronounced sweetness in taste. And to find a pumpkin with delicious seeds, you need to especially try.

For making desserts

The sweetest pumpkins are nutmeg varieties. It is easiest to distinguish them in a shape resembling a light bulb or a guitar - a fairly long and narrow part of the fruit, devoid of seeds, begins near the stalk. All seeds are located on the opposite end of the vegetable, in its wide rounded part. In stores, the most common variety is “Butternat” - it fully lives up to its name because it has a soft taste like butter, flesh and nutty notes.

The disadvantage of such pumpkins is that they quickly lose their taste. The maximum amount of sugar in them is immediately after harvest. Then this figure decreases rapidly, and by the end of December, the fruits lose their attractiveness to customers. However, around this time another type of pumpkin appeared on sale - large-fruited. You can also distinguish them from the rest in shape - round, slightly flattened in the upper and lower parts. They are less sweet, but still tasty. The most popular is the Hokkaido variety.

For meat dishes and snacks

So that sweetness does not interfere with the perception of other tastes, fruits with a neutral taste in the flesh are used to prepare the second dishes. Hard bark varieties have this quality. They have an ovoid shape and a very thick, like armored, peel. On the shelves of stores from late August to mid-May you can find a variety of varieties of this pumpkin.

For sunflower seeds

In pumpkins, which are intended for cooking, there are very few seeds, and in most cases they do not differ in good taste. Therefore, if your goal is to enjoy them, you need to go not to the store, but to the market. Private farms grow different varieties of pumpkin, the main feature of which is large seeds with a thin peel. With proper luck, you can even find a fruit with bare seeds - they do not need to be cleaned, because the variety "Gymnosperma" does not form a hard shell on the seeds.

What else to look for?

Before you go with the pumpkin to the checkout, you should carefully examine the fruit from all sides. This will help reduce the risk of acquiring an unsuitable product.

Among other things, the pumpkin fruit should be:

• Whole - when buying a chopped vegetable, there is a risk that pathogenic microorganisms get on the flesh, which will subsequently negatively affect health.
• Heavy - if it turned out that the pumpkin weighs a lot more than can be assumed based on its size, then it is really good and juicy.
• Small - the optimal weight of the pumpkin does not exceed 4–5 kg, because the larger it is, the more fibrous its pulp is. And it’s very difficult to use too large a fruit before it spoils.

Peduncle

Nobody eats the lignified part of the stem, therefore little attention is paid to the tail.And he, nevertheless, is an important part of the pumpkin - a kind of "gag" that protects the fetus from infection. If the tail is brutally torn out and pulp is visible in its place, then such a pumpkin will not be stored for more than a week. Also, bacteria dangerous to humans can get inside the fetus - for example, all the same Salmonella and Escherichia coli. In general, a fruit without a tail is best left on the counter, even if it looks beautiful and the price is attractive.

Another point to consider is the appearance of the stem. It should be dry, beige in color and firm to the touch. The green color does not mean that the pumpkin is fresh, but that it was taken from the garden too early, when it had not yet had time to acquire the proper taste and aroma. Dishes from such a vegetable will not please anyone. By the way, the immaturity of pumpkin is one of the reasons why cunning sellers remove the tail.

Peel

The main thing to remember is the color of the peel in no way connected with the color of the pulp. Even a bright orange pumpkin on top may turn out to be pale yellow inside. Therefore, the fetus is selected according to other signs:

• The presence of gray or white plaque is a natural wax produced by plants. Thanks to him, vegetables and fruits retain freshness and juiciness longer.
• The absence of putrefactive spots - the fact is that they can be a sign of anthracnose (a fungal disease due to which the pumpkin acquires an unpleasant bitter taste). In this case, impact marks, shallow scratches and other minor mechanical damage to the peel are acceptable - they appear during transportation and do not affect the taste of the fruit in any way, although they significantly reduce the shelf life.
• Flat stripes (if any). Wavy or curved stripes indicate that the nutrient balance in the soil where the pumpkin grew was disturbed. The consequence of this may be an increased content of nitrates in the fruit.

It is also important to pay attention to the density of the peel - it should in no case be pressed through with a finger when pressed.

Pulp color

The most beautiful, and useful - orange. It becomes such thanks to carotenoids - substances that are sometimes called vitamins of longevity. Unfortunately, it is impossible to find out which pumpkin is inside without cutting it. It remains only to take the seller a word.

Choosing the right pumpkin is a simple matter, if you remember the distinguishing features of different types of this vegetable and devote enough time to inspect the fetus. The presence of rot, mold, deep cracks or the absence of a peduncle are serious reasons for refusing a purchase.