Pumpkin season is well underway in New England and there are some fun facts you should know about this fall staple.

Giant Pumpkin Winner at Rochester Fair 2015 Grown By Ron Wallace. This beauty weighed in at 1,1975lbs! - Jenne Holmes
Giant Pumpkin Winner at Rochester Fair 2015 Grown By Ron Wallace. This beauty weighed in at 1,1975lbs! - Jenne Holmes
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There are a couple of up and coming Pumpkin Festivals were you can celebrate your inner pumpkin as well. Somersworth will hold there's on October 10th and Laconia will hold there's on October 24th. Just in case you feel your pumpkin knowledge is a little lacking, let me fill you in on some fascinating facts about these orange orbs.

1. Pumpkin Pilgrimage

Many think that we have the Pilgrims to thank for our love of all things orange this time of year, but in fact the Pumpkin is native to North America and Native Americans were using them long before the Pilgrims arrived. Pilgrims often used pumpkins as an ingredient for the crust of a pie, as opposed to the filling. They would simply slice the top of the pumpkin, remove the seeds and fill the insides with milk, spices and honey before baking them in hot ask.

2. Wow, Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere

1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced each year, in fact they have been grown on six out of seven continents. Antarctica is the one were you will find growing pumpkins impossible, but then it's hard to grow just about anything there.

3. Pumpkin Spice Sales Up, Real Pumpkin Sales Plunge

According to a 2014 Neilson report, sales of real pumpkins, have suffered in part thanks to the abundance of pumpkin flavored products that have flooded the market over recent years. Nielsen found that pumpkin sales losses in 2011, 2013 and 2014 accounted for 8.6 million fewer pumpkins sold. That's a shame because...

4. Pumpkins Are Great For Your Figure

Pumpkins are a fruit and are actually part of the squash family. They consist of 90% water making them dieters dream. There's only 100 calories in a cup of pumpkin. And, considering that pumpkin provides seven grams of fiber per cup, this means pumpkin will help you feel fuller for a long time, with very few calories. Calling pumpkin low fat is an understatement, a serving of pumpkin puree contains zero fat. Pumpkin puree can replace the oil in cake recipes much in the same way applesauce can. If that wasn't enough to make you go out and get a real orange pumpkin, here's something else to make you think;

5. Pumpkin Seeds Could Make Us Happier And Sleep Better

Pumpkin seeds, are loaded with Tryptophan. Tryptophan, an amino acid, gets converted to serotonin, aka the "happy hormone," which could ease depression. Tryptophan also helps us sleep quicker, deeper and longer — once it gets converted into serotonin and then melotonin, also known as the "sleep hormone." And who isn't happier when they get more sleep?

All the giant pumpkins on display at the Rochester Fair 2015. Now that's a lot of pumpkin! - Jenne Holmes
All the giant pumpkins on display at the Rochester Fair 2015. Now that's a lot of pumpkin! - Jenne Holmes
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6: All You Can Eat Pumpkin

Believe it or not the only part of a pumpkin that can't be eaten is the stem. Even the flowers are edible. Their seeds are roastable, and their flesh puree-able. Actually, pumpkin puree can replace the oil in cake recipes much in the same way applesauce can.

7: Pumpkin Beer
The Pilgrims, being the resourceful people that they were, made beer out of pumpkins! They fermented a combination of persimmons, hops, maple sugar and pumpkin to make this early colonial brew. Admit you, thought Samuel Adams was the first to think of this, didn't you?

8: Beni and His Giant Pumpkin?

If you made it to Rochester fair last week, you will no doubt of seen this years giant pumpkin winners, the largest of which weighed in at an impressive 1,975 pounds. Now that's a lot of pumpkin but it still has a ways to go before it beats the 2014 world recorder holder Beni Meier's giant pumpkin which weighed an amazing 2323.7 pounds!

9: All Carved Up

Carving Jack-o'-lanterns was originally designed to ward off evil spirits. After hollowing out center a face of a lost soul was carved into the flesh before a candle was placed inside to make it glow. The lanterns were then placed on the doorstep to ward off evil spirits.

10: Can The Pumpkin?

There are more pumpkins grown in Illinois, than anywhere else in part because this is where Libby's pumpkin plant can be found. Over 85% of the world's pumpkin is canned at their processing plant each year.

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