What Becomes of Pumpkins After Halloween?

Back in the good old days in Pennsylvania Dutch country, a shortage of meat meant frying up pumpkin as a substitute. That's according to the Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook by Gerald S. Lestz.
   Those were days of "waste not, want not."
   Pumpkins have quite a history, according to those who dig into such things, going back 9,000 years as domesticated in Mexico. In the US, Native Americans taught the colonists to stew pumpkins -- a type of squash -- with beans, corn and peas.
 
Colonists found other uses, especially as pie. Once upon a time the making of pumpkin pie was quite a production, a vintage recipe mentioned in America Eats cookbook calling for thyme, sweet marjoram, rosemary, cinnamon, parsley, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, apples, currants, white wine, eggs plus the half pound of cooked pumpkin.
   I don't know about you but I am bothered at the sight of pumpkins left behind after Halloween, in the fields or in heaps at the farmers' markets.
  Which brings us to something I sure didn't realize. Those field pumpkins are not grown to eat; they are grown to be decorative. They are for making jack-o-lanterns, with rinds too thick for good eating. They can be cooked but are not recommended for that purpose.
   It just seems a shame for a pumpkin to go to all the trouble of growing into a big, beautiful orange globe, only to rot in a field.
   But that must be the case, a great many of the leftovers simply get returned to the earth from which they sprang. A portion go for cattle feed. From what I gather, some cows like them, squashed, and others care less.
   There are numerous types of pumpkins grown for eating, with names like Baby Bear (smallish, recommended as a soup bowl), Baby Pam (said to be great for pies), Cheese Pumpkin (recommended, stores well),  Cinderella (highly recommended), Jarrahdale (recommended), Sugar Pie (said to be tops for baking), just to name a few.
   Here is a pumpkin stew recipe from AllRecipes that looks quite tempting. It features stew meat, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and bell pepper, all packaged in a sugar pumpkin shell. Be sure to read the comments and draw your own conclusions about how to proceed.
   And another, a bit more exotic, featuring orange fruit segments and lentils.
   Maybe we could ship the extras overseas, a sort of pumpkin foreign aid? True, most other countries that care about pumpkins grow their own. China's pumpkin production totally dwarfs that of the US, as does India's. Not to rub it in but even Russia and Iran produce more pumpkins than does the US.
   How about imports? This is the melting pot US, so of course we import recipes. One of the most popular "imports" is pumpkin stew from Afghanistan. Kaddo Bourani is sauteed pumpkinserved in Afghan restaurants. It looks to me as though elsewhere the recipe has been simplified,  perhaps to speed up the prep time, or to suit vegetarian tastes. This one sure has the look of a stew.
   Regarding the pulp or puree, it can be frozen and stored for future use.
   And if we can't save whole pumpkins, how about seeds?
   Pumpkin seeds are a medicine cabinet in a shell, with all sorts of beneficial content like antioxidants, protein, iron, magnesium, zinc and phytosterols which, according to The Healing Spices book, do great things for the prostate. They are said to be a good source of fiber.
   Here is an illustrated version of seed roasting from Oh She Glows.
   Personally, I find the common seeds with shell a bother, bits and pieces of shell stuck in my teeth. So I go with pepitas, raw not roasted -- in order to derive the most health benefits.