Identifying and Choosing the Best Types of Pumpkins
People are getting picky about their pumpkins, and that bin of dusty orange ones at the local market may not produce the perfect specimen to display on the porch or front steps. You’ve seen the white ones, the green ones, the tall ones, and squat ones, but what are their names and varieties? And if you need the perfect pumpkin for carving or cooking, which type should you choose, and how do you pick a good pumpkin? Starting with some basics and learning about the different categories of pumpkins will give you all you need to know to make the right choice.
Pumpkin Terms
Skin: This is the outside, colored part of the pumpkin.
Flesh: The stuff inside, used for cooking, is the flesh.
Carvability: Is the pumpkin fairly easy to carve with a knife or pumpkin-carving kit? If not, it’s probably more suited for painting or just leaving alone.
Shape: Pumpkins aren’t just round. They can be squat, tall, long, uneven, etc.
Texture: Glide your fingers across the pumpkin’s skin. Is it bumpy, slightly rough, or smooth as a baby’s bottom? That’s the pumpkin’s texture.
Ribbing: If you were drawing a pumpkin, the ribbing would be those vertical stripes you create to indicate that it is a pumpkin and not some other round object.
Size: Pretty straightforward—big, small, miniature, medium. Size is sometimes indicated in weight.
Keeps well/poorly: This describes a pumpkin’s “shelf life” or if it has a tendency to last a few months (uncarved) or quickly wither off the vine.
More at link with variety pictures and descriptions:
https://www.thespruce.com/guide-to-best-types-of-pumpkins-4092354