How to tell when a pumpkin is ripe sounds hollow, doesn’t it? The sound of a ripe pumpkin has long since lured children into the kitchen to taste its sweet juice. Then came the movie “Movie.”
The scene is set in an unknown small rural community where old timers and young alike are gathered to share a few laughs over a freshly harvested pumpkin. The gourds are pulled from the earth and placed on a table for the feast. The old men discuss the seasonal ritual of pumpkin carving and the ways in which the crop is taken out of the vine in order for it to be prepared for the Thanksgiving or Christmas table. A child who just happens to drop in unannounced makes a startling appearance, asking the men if they know how to tell when a pumpkin is ripe.
The men look at each other in confusion as they attempt to explain the concept of harvest ripe pumpkins to the child. They finally decide that mature stems of a pumpkin can be identified by their green, shiny tops. Green stems are the ones considered to be immature pumpkins. In order for a pumpkin to be ready for carving, it must be fully developed and green. If it is still green and shiny after it is removed from the vine, then it is too late and the stem is considered to be stale.
This explanation seems logical and reasonable. But it does not sound hollow when the explanation is put into practice. There are many different seasons when a pumpkin stem is considered to be ripe. Sometimes the stem will be green, but the fruit is still soft and somewhat dried out. Sometimes the fruit will be completely dry and may have even begun to crack when it was pulled from the vine.
Each of the different ripening times affects the way in which the pumpkin is cut. This is why most cooks never seem to get it perfectly. When a pumpkin is ripe, the middle should be pale yellow. The outermost layer should be sweet and slightly yellow. And if the pumpkin has been hanging on the vine for more than four days, it should be completely dry and ready for carving.
Another common question about how to tell when a pumpkin is ripe is how long it takes. While the time varies depending on the variety of pumpkin, it is almost always longer than four days. This is because some varieties develop a resistance to drying out while others simply don’t want to go through the process. Also, pumpkins that have been hanging on the vine for more than a week often lose their shape and don’t look as smooth as those that have been hanging for a shorter amount of time. There are several tricks to locating when a pumpkin is ripe, but it often involves timing and trial and error.
The easiest trick to knowing how to tell when a pumpkin is ripe is to look at how much brown material remains in the center. If there is little or no brown material remaining, it is probably too old. If there is a lot of brown material, it is likely that the interior had developed a water stained appearance. If a pumpkin is over ripe, the interior will begin to dry out and the exterior walls and base will become brown.
One more trick that is often missed when learning how to tell when a pumpkin is ripe is the smell. Sometimes all that is needed to determine ripe is the smell. In this case, there are a few different smells that can give clues. The most notable is the scent of baking spices. The other common smell is the scent of dead animals or insects or perhaps some type of fungus or mold.
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