Why do we carve pumpkins on Halloween? CC by MANSOUR DE TOTH/Wikimedia Commons

Jack-o-lanterns have been carved for centuries. Many of us remember carving them as far back as our very first Halloween, but do you know why we carve pumpkins? I always thought it was one of those odd Halloween traditions, but this year I set out to find the truth behind the tradition.

The common theme with pumpkin carving is that it came from the Irish people who would carve faces in turnips and potatoes to ward off evil spirits. They would place them in windows and by doors to frighten spirits away, which explains why we put them on our front porches. When the Irish immigrated to America, they discovered pumpkins were easier to carve and very abundant. This led to the modern tradition of pumpkin carving, but where did the need to drive away evil spirits with turnips come from?

You don’t know Jack

The fable of Jack started centuries ago. The story says that an Irishman nicknamed “Stingy Jack” invited the devil to have a drink with him.

Stingy Jack, living up to his name, didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin to pay for his drink. Jack placed the coin in his pocket, next to his other silver coins, preventing the devil from changing back to any other form. Eventually, Jack freed the devil, but again tricked him into climbing a tree and trapped him up there. Jack then made a deal with the devil. He told the devil he would let him down if he promised not to take Jack’s soul upon his death. The deal was made, and when Jack died, he wasn’t allowed into heaven and the Devil could not take his soul, so Jack was sent to roam the dark with only a coal to light his way. Jack carved a turnip and placed the coal into it, making a lantern, and so the Jack of the Lantern or Jack-o-Lantern was born. Ever since that day, people have carved and lit up turnips to keep Jack’s evil spirit away.

Do you believe in fairy tales?

This tale is probably as tall as they come, but in any event, we have kept the tradition of carving and lighting pumpkins alive and well. Carving pumpkins is a fun tradition for some, and it certainly doesn’t require a lot of money. There is no need to take out a payday loan with this tradition, so go buy yourself a cheap pumpkin and celebrate Halloween however you see fit.

Bet you didn't know about all these facts. (Thinkstock)

It is that time of year again, when we all get excited for the Halloween festivities. One thing’s for sure: one of the best parts of Halloween is the traditional pumpkin. But have you ever wondered why we carve pumpkins or who first thought of eating the seeds? A pumpkin serves more purposes than just carving, and it certainly doesn’t require payday advance loans to have fun with it.

Fun facts about pumpkin carving

1. Pumpkin carving came from the Irish. They used to carve turnips to ward off evil spirits. When Irish people came to America, they discovered pumpkins were easier to carve and more abundant.
2. A pumpkin is actually a squash. It is a member of the Cucurbita family, the same family as squash and cucumbers. It is also a fruit, not a vegetable.
3. Pumpkins can grow in almost any climate. They grow on six continents (including in Alaska). The only place too cold for them to grow is Antarctica.
4. Pumpkins are believed to have originated from the Americas. It is said that Christopher Columbus brought seeds back to Europe to start growing them there.
5. Morton, Ill., is the pumpkin capital of the world. That’s right, more pumpkins are grown there than anywhere else in the world.
6. They are mostly used in October. About 80 percent of the world’s pumpkin supply is used in October – go figure. The 2008 pumpkin supply was worth $141 million.
7. Pumpkins are edible and nutritious. Pumpkins contain Vitamin A and potassium. Even the pumpkin flowers are edible; they are 90 percent water. They commonly make pies, breads and soups, and their seeds can help men avoid prostate cancer.
8. Pumpkin pie history. Pumpkins traditionally were used in pie crusts, not the traditional filling we use them for today. The tops used to be cut off and the inside was filled with milk, spices and honey. That’s how the modern day pumpkin pie originated.
9. Cures to ailments. They were used to remove freckles and cure snake bites.
10. Native Americans had many pumpkin uses. They flattened and dried them to make mats. They used the seeds for food, and they originally called them squash or “isqoutm squash.”

Pepon or large melon?

The word pumpkin comes from the Greek work “pepon,” which means “large melon.” So don’t take out payday loans; a “large melon” this time of year is cheap. Go get your pumpkin today and, whether you carve it, bake it, eat it or simply display it, have some fun with it.

Image from Flickr.

Maybe you went a little overboard buying Halloween candy this year. Or maybe you have overzealous kids who brought home so much candy, you’re afraid you’ll be offering people cash now to take it or serving it at your New Year’s Eve party.

Even if you don’t have extra Halloween candy, but you have a lot, what’s wrong with taking something delicious and making it even more delicious? Bakers are always looking for great ides for new sweet treats to delight their family and friends. After all, that prepackaged candy will still be good at Thanksgiving! Maybe this year you can serve something a little more creative than pumpkin pie.

Here are some great leftover Halloween candy recipes from CDKitchen:

Bit-O-Honey Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake

Five 1.7 oz Bit-O-Honey Bars
One cup canola oil
Four eggs
15-oz can pure pumpkin
One cup sugar
Two tsp. ground cinnamon
Three-fourths tsp. ground cloves
One tsp. ground allspice
One-fourth tsp. ground ginger
One-half tsp. ground nutmeg
One-fourth tsp. salt
Two tsp. baking powder
One tsp. baking soda
Two cups all-purpose flour

Cream Cheese Frosting
Eight oz cream cheese, room temperature
Two 2 oz butter
One tsp. vanilla
Four cups confectioners’ sugar
Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Freeze five Bit-O-Honey Bars for 10 minutes, then use a food processor to chop candy bars coarsely and set aside. Get a large mixing bowl, combine the oil and eggs and mix with an electric mixer for 30 seconds on high. Add pumpkin, sugar and all of the spices: cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix with electric mixer on medium for one minute. Add  baking powder, baking soda and flour. Mix on low for 30 seconds. Mix in the chopped candy bars with a spatula or big spoon.

Pour the batter into 13- by-9-inch pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting: In a large mixing bowl, use the electric mixer to beat together the cream cheese and butter. Mix for about three minutes or until mixture appears soft and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla, then add the confectioners’ sugar. Beat until the sugar is thoroughly mixed in.

Spread frosting over cooled pumpkin cake and cut into bars.

Candy Bar Cheese Cake

Ingredients

Three TB butter, melted
One and one-fourth cups graham cracker crumbs
One TB white sugar
Three 8-oz packages cream cheese
Three eggs
Three-fourths cup white sugar
Two tsp. vanilla extract
Two full-size, chopped up candy bars (can be chocolate, caramel, nuts, nougat)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs and 1 TB sugar in small bowl. In a nine- inch springform pan, press the mixture to for a crust, and put it in the oven for 10 minutes.

Cream together three-fourths of a cup of sugar and three packages of cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Stir in chopped candy bar. After crust is cool, pour in mixture. Bake 45 minutes.

Toffee Angel Food Dessert

Ingredients

One 8-inch angel food cake cut into cubes
Three-fourths cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
8 oz soft cream cheese
Half a cup of chocolate syrup
Two TB  sugar
Two cups whipped topping
Two candy bars, Heath or other chocolate covered toffee
Extra chocolate, toffee candy bar for garnish

Directions

Place angel food cake cubes into ungreased nine-inch baking pan. Add coffee and toss. In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, chocolate syrup and sugar. Fold in whipped topping and spread the mixture over cake and coffee mixture. Sprinkle crushed Heath bars om top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour or more.

That Kruger sped by on his Vespa. It looked like he had one menacing red eye… (Photo: flickr.com)

OK, so this is a story about something called quick payday loans. My brother and I had some fun with a neighbor’s cat, and the weird dude owner threw a rock that broke our car window, and dad needed the extra cash to fix things up.

Here We Go, Into Space

It’s Halloween, and my parents are big fans of the old radio show “War of the Worlds,” so they convince my brother and I to dress up as a fugly Martian and go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. I want to go to the school carnival, but my brother convinces me that we can have a lot of fun. Once he grabs a carton of eggs, he gets me on his wavelength.

Off to Kruger’s Universe

We’re wandering down Elm Street when we come to the house of Old Man Kruger and his spacey cat. He’s really weird. Through the plate glass window in his front yard, we frequently see him sitting there, listening to the radio and acting like a weirdo. How weird do I mean? He talks to the radio, screams and sometimes dances about like a withered, overly-caffeinated stilt-walker. He’s tall, too, so I think of stilts.

My brother Lemmy and I see his space cat wandering around in the front yard, so we decide to have a little fun. With an “oogah” and a “boogah,” we spook the kitty and manage to corner it. Neither of us are going to do anything nasty; we just love being Martians and teasing strange people and their pets.

Long story short, Kruger hurts himself as he’s trying to scare us off. We buzz him with the eggs as we ride off on our bikes, and Kruger curses us and our offal spawn.

Blast a Month Into the Future…

Lemmy and I are playing basketball in our driveway when Kruger speeds by on a Vespa and throws a rock our way. It barely misses my head, and it manages to break the windshield of my dad’s car. He gripes about how he doesn’t have the money to fix it right now, but I hear from mom that he’s thinking about going online to some company called Personal Money Market. They can loan him fast cash that he won’t have to pay back until his next payday. It isn’t very expensive, either, which is great, because I want him to buy me a new bike soon.

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Until the windshield is fixed, he’s riding my bike to work. Every morning, I hear him break out his best imitation of some old guy named Orson Welles: “Kruger, our worlds are at war…”

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