German pumpkin harvest doubles in 10 years

The German Centre for Food reports that the harvest of edible pumpkins in Germany has doubled to more than 86,000 tons in ten years. What used to be seen as "war vegetables" have become popular again today, either in soup or as an oven dish.

Whether it be Hokkaido, Butternut or yellow winter squash, they are all cultivated significantly more on German farmlands than before. In 2016, about 2,100 agricultural companies cultivated pumpkins on 3,991 hectares, says the German Information Centre for Agriculture (BZL). The harvest amounted to 86,664 tons according to data from the German Statistic Office which was twice as much as in 2006 (41,068 tons).

The peel of the Hokkaido pumpkin can be eaten as well, so it is the perfect pumpkin variety for making stuffed pumpkins, says the German Centre for Food (BZfE). The Hokkaido should be washed and sliced in half with a stable, heavy knife and then filled with cheese, for example, cooked and, shortly before consumption, cut into slices. The same goes for the Butternut pumpkin. The cooked, soft flesh of this pumpkin should be separated from the inedible peel with a knife or removed from the peel with a spoon. The pumpkin can also be removed before cooking with a vegetable peeler. There are of course also other pumpkin varieties that can be eaten. However, because the red flesh is very hard, they must first be cut into smaller parts.

Source: BZE