Today we will talk about pumpkins, and in the one of the next articles – about cucumbers. Yes, yes, because not everyone knows that this long, fragrant vegetable also belongs to the pumpkin family. Watermelons and melons do too, by the way.

But let’s not get distracted and start exploring the properties and composition of this juicy and delicious vegetable, which actually gave its name to this large family. Today, we will focus on the pumpkin itself.

There are many varieties of this delicious orange vegetable — about 700 — and we will not delve into all of them, of course. Visually, you can find two different shapes on supermarket shelves: an elongated one, similar to a large orange squash, and a round one with the classic shape, as seen in pictures. Both of these types are worthy of close attention. In terms of taste, however, the round pumpkin is usually more fleshy and juicy — but that’s in Ukraine. Once, I bought a beautiful classic-shaped pumpkin in Plymouth, expecting to get all the benefits of its Ukrainian sisters. Something unexpected happened — I was extremely disappointed when it turned out that this beauty had dry, bland flesh, and the taste was rather sad. Apparently, that pumpkin was decorative, although it is usually believed that decorative pumpkins are miniature pumpkins of bright colours.

After that not entirely successful experiment, I no longer felt like buying large round pumpkins in England. However, I do buy the long ‘squash-like’ ones from time to time and use them to make lots of interesting dishes. For example, pumpkin soup, pumpkin salad, and this orange beauty is also very good when baked.

When it comes to the benefits of pumpkin, that’s where the most interesting part begins — vitamin T alone is worth it! It improves all metabolic processes in the body, promotes the rapid absorption of all foods, even heavy ones, and prevents obesity. It also contains vitamins A, C, E, and K, as well as B vitamins. Pumpkin is also extremely good for detoxifying the body.

In general, there are so many benefits from regular consumption that there is no doubt we should all eat this fleshy vegetable as often as possible. The more, the better! Especially since I have only mentioned a small fraction of the huge range of delicious dishes that can be made from it.

So what are we waiting for? Let’s do it as soon as possible — this week, for example!