“And then on Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises from the patch and brings toys to all the boys and girls…”
 — Linus, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

It comes in an incredible number of sizes, from tiny to a world record 2,000-pounder. Unfortunately, and for the most part, it only comes in one color. An average pumpkin is five to 10 pounds for your purposes, 20 for a really big one. The world record for a pumpkin stood at 460-pounds until 1981. A 493.5-pounder took the crown that year. In 1984, the record broke at 1,000 pounds and in 2010, one tipped the scales at 1,810 pounds.

But records are made to be broken and in 2011 a Rhode Island man took one in over a ton at 2,009 pounds. It netted him $15,000; five for the prize of biggest and 10 for breaking a ton.  

Not that long ago it only got carved on Halloween, made into a pie at Thanksgiving and into the occasional loaf of bread. Who can forget its guest appearances in the classics. In Cinderella it was turned into a coach. In The Headless Horseman... well, you guessed it. And then there Jack the Pumpkin King in Nightmare before Christmas.

“Peter, Peter pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn’t feed her. Put her in a pumpkin shell and there he kept her very well.”    

Now the noble pumpkin has entered the 21st Century with pomp and circumstance and is quite literally everywhere you look. It’s a member of the squash family (Cucurbita Maxima and Cucurbita Moschata) and at one time was native only to North America, but not for long. You would be hard pressed now to find any corner of the world where it’s not grown and eaten. Antarctica, I believe, is the only place it won't grow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t find it there.

Take a few large and small pumpkins, add some cornstalks, a couple of pots of flowering kale, a bale of hay and you have the makings of a great fall front door decoration.

It’s even a sport. Pumpkin Chunkin is really more about the machines that throw them then the pumpkin itself, but it could never be as noble if it had a name like Watermelon Chunkin, or Bowling Ball Chunckin. See what I mean? It only works with a pumpkin.

Goggle pumpkin recipes and you get 77 million hits. Google just the word pumpkin and that number jumps to 139 million.  

Pumpkin-flavored coffee awaits you anywhere you buy your favorite cup. And don’t forget the pumpkin spiced muffin to go with it. You can boil, roast, broil, cook it in a pan or a pot. Cook it whole, in slices and pieces. Roast the seeds and just like a squash, you can eat the skin. And yes, there’s even a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie.

After reading all 77 million recipes and trying, say, a few thousand of them, you may still find the time and desire to decorate, paint and carve them.

I found a recipe for pumpkin Mac and Cheese (not so sure about that one), and a Thai Pumpkin Soup that sounded and looked yummy. And all your basic recipes with the usual suspects of butter, salt and pepper, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, even Spiced Rum. From soup to dessert, you can find a recipe for it.

After reading all 77 million recipes and trying, say, a few thousand of them, you may still find the time and desire to decorate, paint and carve them. I didn’t Google pumpkin stencils, though I’m sure it had its own library. I did find a program that turned your photograph into a stencil. That could be fun.

In the category of versatile vegetables it has to rank as Numero Uno.  After your Pumpkin Pie Vodka Martini (yes there’s a brand of pumpkin pie flavored vodka), you move on to your meal of pumpkin soup, baked pumpkin with roasted pumpkin seeds and that piece of great American pumpkin pie, you can wash it all down with a bottle of your favorite pumpkin ale. I found 400 varieties of that on the web. The constant is they all use fresh cut pumpkin or pumpkin puree in the mash.

Here’s one to try from the Wolf Test Kitchens

Select a small pie pumpkin. The one in the photo is about 2.2-pounds. Set the oven at 350-degrees and proceed to cut the top and clean out our pumpkin. Put in a baking dish and replace the top. Coat with good oil (canola, peanut, etc.… ) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the pumpkin on the center rack and set your timer for one hour. Cooking times will vary of course, but when a small knife pierces the skin and slides easily in and out, it’s ready.

Slice the pumpkin into six or eight pieces and season with butter, brown sugar, salt and pepper. A little cinnamon never hurts, but that’s at your discretion. Place under a broiler until the sugar caramelizes and it browns a little. A blow torch works just as well.

Arrange on a plate and fill the center with stuffing, rice or baked apples. Replace the top and serve. Your guests will be surprised when you tell them it’s pumpkin.