If you’re carving a pumpkin for Halloween, you might want to take a second look at those yucky insides.
It turns out the lowly pumpkin is actually a nutritional superfood. And it’s all edible. Even the skin and the stringy insides can be cooked and pureed.
The first hint of the pumpkin’s nutritional punch is its colour. Just like carrots, orange is a sign of an important antioxidant. “Orange colour means a great source of beta carotene which is responsible for heart health, eye health and overall lowering the risk of cancer,” says registered dietitian Beth Mansfield.
And that’s just one of the pumpkin’s many nutritional perks. It’s also an excellent source of vitamin C, potassium for your blood pressure, and zinc for your immune system. And pumpkin seeds are a great source of iron. “You’ve got about a third of the daily amount of iron for a woman in about two tablespoons,” says Mansfield.
Perhaps the best news is that pumpkin is high in fiber and very low in calories. Pure pumpkin actually has fewer calories per serving than carrots.
Of course that changes when you add it to a sugary, whipped cream-topped pumpkin pie. But think of the beta carotene!
Some pumpkins, often called sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins, are sweeter than others. But all pumpkins are perfectly edible, even the larger pumpkins sold primarily for Halloween decorations. “People always ask, can I eat these pumpkins too? Absolutely! You can eat any kind of pumpkin,” says Mark Saunders of Saunders Farm. He estimates they will sell thousands of pumpkins this fall.
That’s a lot of scary jack-o-lanterns, and a shocking amount of good nutrition.
