It’s astonishing how many different pumpkin varieties exist, with colors ranging from almost white to orange, red, deep green, and even blue - as I recently learned. The pumpkins in my photo aren’t actually Blue Jarrahdale pumpkins, though; their blue hue comes from Lomochrome Turquoise film, which gives everything a surreal twist.

As a child, I only knew the classic garden pumpkins from movies and books. I can’t remember seeing many pumpkins in real life growing up - at least not until Halloween started becoming more popular here. The statistics seem to support my memory.1

Suhr, F. (2020). Der Kürbis-Boom hält an. Statista. Statista GmbH.

Suhr, F. (2020). Der Kürbis-Boom hält an. Statista. Statista GmbH.

It was weirdly fascinating to me when I saw a pumpkin field of kış kabağı for the first time in Türkiye - and tasted the delicious dessert kabak tatlısı.2 I should really try making it myself sometime.

Lately, I’ve also been wondering how stable pumpkin harvests will be in the face of climate change3. With shifting weather patterns and more frequent droughts, it’s hard to know what the future holds for these colorful fields.

  1. You can really go into a rabbit hole if you look into the history of pumpkins and their trade routes. There are some interesting articles and videos about that topic:

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  2. Kış kabağı, literally “winter squash” in Turkish, is a variety of pumpkin widely grown and enjoyed throughout Türkiye. Unlike the bright orange pumpkins common in Western Halloween traditions, kış kabağı is usually pale green or light beige on the outside, with a dense, sweet, pale yellow flesh inside. It’s harvested in the autumn and can be stored for months, making it a staple ingredient for winter dishes. In Turkish cuisine, kış kabağı is most famously used for kabak tatlısı, but it’s also found in savory stews, soups, and even stuffed with rice and spices. The mild, sweet flavor and creamy texture make it incredibly versatile. In local markets, you’ll often see huge wedges of kış kabağı for sale, cut from massive squashes that can weigh several kilos each. ↩︎

  3. https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/wirtschaft/kuerbis-ernte-durchwachsen-deutschland-100.html ↩︎