The Perfect Pumpkin: Growing/Cooking/Carving

by Gail Damerow

The big orange pumpkin is no longer just for Halloween! Gail Damerow shows you how to cultivate more than 95 varieties of pumpkin, and provides recipes for pumpkin pies, muffins, and even pumpkin beer. You’ll also learn how to use pumpkins in a variety of craft projects, from carving unique jack-o’-lanterns to creating pumpkin-scented creams and soaps. With tips on growing giant pumpkins, preserving your harvest through the winter, and much more, The Perfect Pumpkin will delight pumpkin lovers of all sensibilities.

Genres: Gardening, Cookbooks

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 1997

About the author

Gail Damerow and her husband operate a family farm in Tennessee where they keep poultry and dairy goats, tend a sizable garden, and maintain a small orchard. They grow and preserve much of their own food, make their own yogurt and ice cream, and bake their own bread. Gail has written extensively on raising livestock, growing fruits and vegetables, and related rural skills. She shares her experience and knowledge as a regular contributor to Backyard Poultry and Countryside magazines, as an occasional contributor to numerous other periodicals, and as the author or contributor to more than a dozen country skills how-to books.

Reviews

[Mischenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of what you need to know here. Crafts and recipes included. Good one to keep on the shelf! 4****

[Shawn Ly’s Book Notes & Quotes]

“Besides their many culinary offerings, pumpkins are indispensable mood setters for autumn festivities. And they have become objects of intense competition: Who can grow the biggest pumpkin, who can carve the most imaginative jack-o’-lantern, who can throw one the farthest? And when all else is said and done, pumpkins are relished as a time-honored winter feed by goats, cattle, pigs, and poultry.”

“Pumpkins are an American call to irrationality and excess, a tribute to the bounty of our hemisphere.
— Linden Staciokas
Harrowsmith Country Life, 1993”

[Ski L. Laughing-Bear Gutowsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT

Very instructive indeed, everything I needed to know and so much more is included in this book all about the “Pumpkin” from the seed to the dirt, the sprig, vine, flower, nurturing or pollinating manually and of course the fruit itself! There are fun facts about the different varieties as well as recipes. I own some six or seven books on growing perfect large pumpkins; this one “The Perfect Pumpkin” as the title suggests, is the only one I need for growing “Perfect Pumpkins”! The others have the same information but not all in the same literature; the other thing I really enjoy about this goto “Gardners Manual” is how it’s written and the different processes or techniques is explained. A must have. (I’ve owned this book for a long time, at least eight or nine harvests ago! Every harvest has been impressive with large firm Jack-O-Lanterns, Atlantic Dill/ Big Man, and Connecticut Pie Pumpkins! The largest pumpkin I have grown was 87LBs of PERFECTLY ROUND FIRM BIG MAX! It would have grown twice it’s size had I let it, the problem is that they turn mushy too many times that I’ve stopped doing it- they are only good for their seeds once their soft. Otherwise, they are a high demand, high return produce that sell for big bucks! Most importantly is how much my kids and grandchildren with the neighborhood youngsters enjoy them, that is the true fun and largest return! Papa Bear’s Pumpkins are cherished, what more could a person want!!

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only book you'd ever need about pumpkins.

[Melissa Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am now an expert on pumpkins. You may call me the Pumpkin King.

[Dominique · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with information and useful information regarding pumpkins. In this book you will learn which kind of pumpkins are good for cooking and which kinds of pumpkins are good for carving. There are so many recipes in the back of the book for how to cook or bake pumpkins. There is even a recipe for making pumpkin soap. If you're considering growing pumpkins or if you need more recipes for cooking your pumpkins, then this is a great book for you.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should be a 3.5. I love growing pumpkins and this book tells you everything you wanted to know and even more about growing them, especially the super-sized ones. I plan on trying some of the recipes with the bounty of my pumpkin patch.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Perfect Pumpkin: Growing, Cooking, Carving by Gail Damerow (Storey Publication 2007)(635.62). There is a good section here on growing huge punkins. My rating: 7/10, finished 2008.