Pumpkins are a kind of winter squash that has a protracted shelf life and affords versatility. However sure pumpkin varieties are most suited to creating pumpkin pie, whereas others could also be higher used elsewhere. There are over 150 forms of pumpkins on this planet at present, with many accompanying variations.
Some are darkish inexperienced, and a few are orange. Some have flesh that could be a vivid orange coloration, and others have blue or white insides. In case you’d wish to know the right way to develop pumpkins, now we have an amazing piece on that.
As a substitute of contemplating the right way to develop every kind of pumpkin, we are going to look at totally different pumpkin varieties by class. This piece is an inventory of pumpkin cultivars sorted by appears. Likelihood is there’s a pumpkin on the market you possibly can develop too!
Whether or not it’s pie pumpkins you need or perhaps a winter squash look-alike, there are such a lot of to select from that you simply gained’t be disregarded of the pumpkin get together. There’s a winter squash you’ll like to develop!
Pumpkin Cultivars
Let’s run by means of an inventory of various pumpkin varieties primarily based on the visible traits of their fruit. Then you possibly can order seeds to begin rising your pumpkin patch.
Giant Varieties
The pumpkins on this class have been cultivated for his or her unusually giant measurement. Most are members of C. maxima.
Atlantic Large is the biggest species of pumpkin on this listing, rising 400 to 500 kilos simply, and may be harvested in fall or early summer time. The fruit resembles Charlie Brown’s Nice Pumpkin, with deep ribs and darkish orange pores and skin. These big pumpkins are nice to be used in pies, muffins, and cookies. Or they’re prize winners.
Massive Moon pumpkins are giant and oval-shaped with darkish orange outsides. Their flesh is pale and though it’s not generally eaten, they work pies and baked items. They’re harvested in summer time when the fruit will get roughly 3 toes in diameter. The ribs are pronounced however not as deep as Atlantic Large, and the pores and skin is {smooth}.
Mammoth gold are orange pumpkins that attain 60 lbs or extra at full maturity. They’re about as pumpkiny as they arrive. These giant pumpkins are sometimes used to win pumpkin-growing contests. They’re nice as a jack-o-lantern pumpkin, or their flesh can be utilized for canning and baking pies.
Prizewinner vegetation develop enormous pumpkins anyplace from 75 to 100 lbs. They’re typically used for contests, and as roadside shows as a result of their uniform form, shallow ribs, and vivid orange pores and skin. Despite the fact that they’re not typically used for consuming, they’re edible.
Musquee de Provence is the one one in all our showcased big pumpkins that resides in Curcubita moschata. It has a flattened form with deep ribs and wealthy orangey brown pores and skin. These attain 20 kilos on the prime of their rising vary. In contrast to different pumpkin varieties on this class, the flesh is utilized in savory dishes and has a barely stringy texture.
Miniature Varieties

On this class, now we have mini pumpkins which can be enjoyable to make use of as Halloween decorations. Rising them is enjoyable too! See if any of those spark your curiosity. Most reside in C. pepo.
Bumpkin grows mini pumpkins in a semi-bush fashion. Not solely do its tremendous cute fruit develop to a whopping 6 to eight ounces, however they’re additionally immune to powdery mildew. The pores and skin is vivid orange. The seeds and flesh of the cultivar are edible, however there’s solely sufficient meals for one individual.
Jack Be Little pumpkins are spherical, baseball-sized fruit with orange flesh extra appropriate for culinary use than the little bumpkin. This cultivar additionally grows on a semi-bush. Inside three months you’ll have tiny fruit that’s filled with Nutritional vitamins A and C. They’re additionally appropriate for portray and adorning, making them nice miniature pumpkins for teenagers. We’ve got Natural Jack Be Little pumpkin seeds in our retailer, too!
Sweetie Pie pumpkin is barely bigger than the earlier two mini pumpkins we’ve talked about. Its fruits develop to six to eight kilos, with candy flesh that’s glorious for pies. The round-shaped pumpkin has {smooth} pores and skin and medium orange coloration. I’ve personally sprung for one in all these each fall to bake a pumpkin pie from scratch, and I like to recommend you do too if baking is your factor. Strive rising your personal with the Natural Sugar Pie Pumpkin Seeds we promote.
Cherokee Tan pumpkin is among the mini pumpkin varieties cultivated from the species Cucurbita moschata. It has a spherical form and really pale orange pores and skin. It shops properly and grows 10 to fifteen pumpkins per plant. This selection is very pest and disease-resistant, too. Particularly for these rising in temperate areas, think about that it was initially grown by Cherokee peoples dwelling in Appalachia. It’s glorious for consuming due to its small seed cavity and copious flesh.
Crunchkin mini pumpkins have a flat form, and a medium orange outdoors, with faint yellow striping. Their extremely pronounced ribs make them glorious for adorning the home for Halloween or fall festivities.
Child Bear pumpkins are about half the dimensions of candy pie pumpkins, with spherical, orange exteriors. They’ve lengthy, stiff stems that make them straightforward to hold for these with small arms. The seeds are semi-hull-less and the flesh is tasty too!
Heirloom Varieties

Right here, we’re speaking pumpkin varieties with a legacy. Rising heirlooms is a good way to hold on that legacy, and likewise develop one thing that stands aside.
Lengthy Island Cheese pumpkins are probably essentially the most well-known of the Cucurbita moschata species. This medium-sized heirloom selection runs 6 to 10 lbs per fruit. It’s a spherical, barely flat fruit named for its resemblance to a wheel of cheese. The pores and skin is mild orange, and it’s {smooth} with slight ribs. It’s chilly tolerant and simple to develop. It was first cultivated in 1807 on Lengthy Island. Since then, it’s been prized for its versatility in cooking and baking. Its potential to outlive has been assisted by the Lengthy Island Cheese Pumpkin Undertaking.
Seminole pumpkins are housed within the Cucurbita moschata species. They attain 8 to 12 kilos, have a spherical base, and a protracted neck tapering barely to some extent on the prime. Their coloration ranges from variegated greens to yellow, to uninteresting orange. Their flesh is vivid orange and has a candy style. One other heirloom with no pest issues, this pumpkin was first cultivated by Seminole peoples in Florida. Settlers there noticed the pumpkins in cultivation and took up rising them.
Dickinson pumpkins are rectangular with mild orange outsides and wonderful mildly candy orange flesh that’s nice for canning and baking pies. They’re medium-sized, reaching anyplace from 10 to 40 kilos. They originate from Kentucky, through a settler by the title of Elijah Dickinson who settled there in 1835. They’re typically utilized in canned pumpkin pie filling we all know and love. A fall harvest is bound to dazzle any onlookers.
Galeux d’Eysines (Peanut) pumpkin is known as such due to peanut-shaped warts that cowl its pale orange outer pores and skin. It has a thick layer of orange flesh in its flat form that surrounds a small seed cavity, making it a superb heirloom selection for soups and cooking. A member of the Cucurbita maxima species, this French selection was first recorded in 1885 in “Les Plantes Potagères” by Vilmorin-Andrieux. It was then introduced from a French pumpkin honest by Amy Goldman in 1996. So far as medium-sized pumpkins go, this one is exclusive! It shops for as much as 6 months too.
Jaune Gros De Paris is a member of the Cucurbita maxima species that has a protracted historical past originating in France as properly. These giant pumpkins attain anyplace from 22 to 33 kilos and develop on lengthy vines. They’re smooth-skinned pumpkins which have tasty yellow-orange meat, and pale orange outsides with barely any ribs. They’ll develop as much as 100 kilos in some circumstances!
Lakota pumpkins are usually not precisely from the Lakota folks just like the title suggests. Generally generally known as Blue Lakota, the Lakota squash was developed over a century of cross-breeding and hybridization. At this time’s seeds are the consequence, with the unique Lakota cultivar hailing from 1820. Give the plant numerous area within the backyard (10 to twenty toes). The fruit have deep orange outsides with inexperienced streaks, and candy, nutty flesh, with scrumptious seeds.
White Varieties

Now let’s discuss white pumpkin varieties! Most white pumpkins fall underneath the Cucurbita maxima umbrella.
Child Boo is the cutest of the mini white pumpkins. It’s one of many few white varieties that fall underneath the species Cucurbita pepo. They develop on a summer time vine that produces 8 to 12 pumpkins which can be concerning the measurement of a tennis ball. Their white flesh is nice for cooking too!
Casper pumpkins weigh 10 to 16 kilos on common and have thick orange meat that’s nice for cooking. They appear like your typical spherical pumpkin with slight ribs, however they’re ghostly white. Due to this fact folks like to make use of them for jack-o-lanterns in addition to for cooking.
Full Moon pumpkins are big white fruit that reaches anyplace from 60 to 90 kilos every. They’ve beautiful white pores and skin with slight suturing. Their yellow flesh is nice for pumpkin pies too.
Cotton Sweet pumpkins are one other within the Cucurbita pepo species. These white pumpkins are medium to small, weighing in at 5 to 12 kilos every. The milky white flesh is great in meals, and the pale pores and skin makes it an amazing ornamental pumpkin.
Polar Bear is a big white pumpkin that grows to about 30 to 65 kilos. It’s barely ovular, white, and stays that method within the discipline, making it an amazing alternative for fall festivities. The intense yellow-orange flesh is appropriate for cooking and baking.
Snowball pumpkins are nice for growers who need excessive yields and small fruit. Every snowball is 1 to 2 kilos and has white pores and skin and a spherical form. These are excellent for adorning, however may also be eaten.
Inexperienced Varieties

Inexperienced pumpkins are everywhere in the map relating to their father or mother species. They’re all some type of inexperienced pumpkin!
Futsu pumpkin is inexperienced earlier than it cures in winter storage. It’s a Japanese pumpkin in Cucurbita moschata that has a historical past going again to the seventeenth century. Thought-about uncommon at present, growers search it out for its warty, deeply ribbed pores and skin, and inexperienced to chestnut colours. Its flat fruits vary from 3 to five kilos and are nice for adorning, or consuming – uncooked or cooked!
Buen Gusto De Horno pumpkins have vivid orange flesh that surrounds an virtually collapsed seed cavity. These extremely wrinkled and easily warted Cucurbita maxima members are glorious in soup, eaten steamed, or pureed. The 4 to 7-pound fruits are both spherical or barely flattened with mild inexperienced to grey pores and skin.
Shishigatani pumpkins are attention-grabbing as a result of they’re hourglass-shaped, resembling butternut squash. The flesh is great in savory dishes of every kind. The darkish inexperienced pores and skin of the roughly 6.5-pound fruit is warty, but {smooth}, with slight ribbing. Discipline scars are sometimes yellow, including variation to their look.
Triamble pumpkins are heirlooms of Australia and have beautiful grayish-green pores and skin and a flattened look. Every fruit has three distinct lobes with a number of ribs, weighs about 8 kilos, and comprises tons of meat that surrounds a small seed cavity. This Cucurbita maxima member is nice for consuming and adorning.
Thai Kang Kob pumpkins have deep inexperienced pores and skin lined in warts. They’ve a small seed cavity with plentiful deep orange flesh that’s usually used for soups, curries, and stir-fries. They take up loads of area (roughly 10 to twenty toes) however produce excessive yields, with their C. moschata fruit weighing 6 to eight kilos.
Basic Orange Varieties

Listed here are some conventional orange pumpkins. These are sometimes pumpkin varieties in Cucurbita maxima, they usually’re used for adorning properties and roadside shows to your favourite fall holidays.
Cinderella pumpkin vegetation produce medium fruit at 15 to 35 kilos. The pores and skin is darkish orange and glossy, and so is the flesh. This fruit is rumored to have been the inspiration for the Disney model of Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage. It has a protracted historical past of use in cooking in France as properly.
Autumn Gold is an oval-shaped pumpkin that’s the form of traditional pumpkin used to embellish for a fall vacation. Autumn gold is great for northern gardeners who want to reap the 7 to 10-pound fruit early as a result of chilly climate.
Harvest Moon pumpkins attain anyplace between 8 and 11 kilos. One other a kind of traditional-looking pumpkin varieties, the spherical form of the fruit, {smooth} pores and skin, and slight ribs make it nice for adorning. The vegetation produce 3 to five fruits every.
Harvest Time Hybrid pumpkins are of the taller pumpkin varieties on the market. They appear like your typical pumpkin, however as an alternative of jack-o-lantern, carve Frankenstein’s monster’s lengthy face! These 25-pounders have pores and skin that’s the deep orange we love for fall holidays.
Magic Lantern pumpkins are one other glorious alternative for Halloween. These spherical pumpkins are the one on this class underneath the Cucurbita pepo species. They appear like all of the orange pumpkins we’ve talked about up up to now, however are extra spherical than the others.
Connecticut Discipline pumpkin is an heirloom selection that’s nice to be used as a jack-o-lantern. Weighing in at 15 to 25 kilos, they virtually include a flat face for carving.
Multicolored Varieties

In case you’re in search of various kinds of pumpkins that diverge from the standard, verify these out!
Inexperienced Striped Cushaw is the primary of the C. mixta species we’ve talked about. It’s a small crookneck that grows properly within the Southeastern US. It’s well-liked in Japan at present however got here from Mexico. The meat is used to make Cushaw butter and pies. The pores and skin is inexperienced with pale yellow streaks, and the fruit reaches 10 to twenty kilos every.
Kakai are small orange pumpkins within the C. pepo species which have inexperienced streaks. They attain 5 to eight kilos every, rising as much as 3 per plant. With hardly any ribs in any respect, the fruit is nice for shows and consuming. The hull-less seeds are particularly desired for snacking.
Strawberry Crown pumpkins reside within the C. maxima species. They’re a bicolor pumpkin with pale salmon blush at their crown. Reaching as much as 6 kilos, this smaller selection is used for its moist flesh that’s candy to the style. Use it for salads, as a starter, or stirred into risotto.
Batwing pumpkins are formed very similar to sugar pumpkins at about 1 to 2 kilos every however have a deep inexperienced to black base. Identical to others in C. maxima, the fruit has dense flesh nice for pies. They’re additionally nice decorations or inhabitants of your goth backyard.
Lil’ Pump-ke-mons reside in C. pepo and have a barely off-white pores and skin with orange stripes in between every lobe. These miniature fruits attain 1 to 2 kilos every, and every plant has excessive yields. They’re sized completely for particular person servings, or for adornment.
Speckled Hound pumpkins attain 3 to six kilos every. The fruit is beautiful with pink pores and skin that has mild inexperienced splotches that drip down from their tops. Use this C. maxima fruit for its thick flesh, or to embellish your private home in fall.
Warty Varieties

Neglect the standard pumpkin! Let’s speak about warty little monster pumpkins.
Yokohama pumpkins come from Japan and made their solution to North America in 1862. These C. moschata members are pest and illness resistant and make beautiful little inexperienced heirloom pumpkins which can be nice for consuming in soups, steamed, tempura fried, or sauteed. That’s as a result of the seed cavity is nearly non-existent!
Knuckle Head pumpkins are 12 to 16 kilos every. They’ve orange outsides, inexperienced and blistered pores and skin, and warts protecting their tight, but mild ribs. These C. pepo pumpkins had been developed in Holland, Michigan by Siegers Seed Co. Prized for his or her flesh or ornamental capabilities, they’re rewarding to develop.
Warty Goblin pumpkins are well-known amongst wart-covered varieties. Just like Knucklehead, these members of C. pepo have extra densely organized warts. They’re used for adornment however make good meals too. And so they’re extremely immune to powdery mildew.
Marina di Chioggia pumpkins are members of C. maxima and have {smooth} warty pores and skin with a number of pronounced warts right here and there. Their tight ribs run throughout shiny gray-blue pores and skin that’s both mild or virtually black. The tasty flesh of this pumpkin is very fragrant, and it’s an amazing show too.
Distinctive Varieties

Whereas most of the pumpkins we’ve talked about are strange-looking, these are even weirder!
Porcelain Doll Pink pumpkins reside in C. maxima. Every 10 to 20-pound flattened gourd has mild pink pores and skin and deeply lobed ribs. To get that beautiful pink coloration, guarantee you don’t harvest till the stem has developed a cork. Alternately, harvest them and remedy them in a cool and darkish place at any time when to acquire blue splotches.
Blue Jarrahdale pumpkins have a father or mother in C. maxima. Probably the most sought-after unusual flattened pumpkins, these fruits have placing blue pores and skin with deep lobes. The orange meat of those blue pumpkins has a candy taste that may’t be crushed. Its uncommon look makes it an amazing show pumpkin too. To not be confused with Blue Doll pumpkin!
One Too Many is one more pumpkin in C. maxima that’s unusual. The pores and skin is white and lined in orange veins. It has barely pronounced ribs. These spherical, 20 to 25-pound fruits get their title as a result of they appear a bit like a bloodshot eye!
Scheherazade come from C. pepo and have a definite deep yellow-orange pores and skin with virtually pixelated inexperienced streaks on their warty ovular exteriors. Every fruit weighs about 5 to 10 kilos, making them nice for shows. However they’re additionally prized for his or her spaghetti squash-like meat.
Look-Alikes

Now let’s speak about winter squashes in C. maxima that appear like pumpkins, however aren’t!
Turbans have vivid orange-red pores and skin and appear like they’re carrying little hats. Weighing 4 to 10 kilos every, these heirlooms predate 1820. They arrive from France the place they’ve been used as ornament and cultivated for his or her nutty meat.
Kabocha squash has inexperienced outsides with yellow streaks. It’s filled with meat and seeds, edible. Extremely candy, and infrequently utilized in cooking relatively than adorning, every squash weighs 2 to three kilos and is often consumed on the winter solstice in Japan.
Orange Hokkaido (Purple Kuri) appear like small pumpkins with out ridges. The three to 7-pound squashes have a chestnut-like taste and a barely pointed tip. They’re cooked with butter and herbs and are usually steamed and loved on their very own too.
Regularly Requested Questions
Q: What number of forms of pumpkins are there?
A: Over 150!
Q: What are the very best forms of pumpkins to eat?
A: These with thick flesh or numerous hull-less seeds are finest for consuming.
Q: What’s the commonest kind of pumpkin?
A: Most pumpkins come from the C. maxima species.
Q: What are gray pumpkins referred to as?
A: It is determined by the variability! Generally they’re Jarrahdale, and typically they’re blue dolls. There are many inexperienced, blue, and grey pumpkins on the market.
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