Whether as the main ingredient in a variety of delicious foods or as a staple of holiday arts and crafts, people love pumpkins!

Ever since Native North Americans taught European settlers how to reap an abundance of food by planting the prolific pumpkin, this multi-faceted fruit (yes, it is a fruit!) has been a symbol of bountiful harvests.

Now Gail Damerow, editor of Rural Heritage magazine, has written a complete guide to growing, cooking, and carving one of America's favorite plants. The Perfect Pumpkin (Storey Communications, 1997) gives readers complete horticultural information on 95 varieties of pumpkins, including instructions for starting seeds indoors and transplanting, watering and feeding, tips for avoiding and controlling the most common pumpkin pests, and finally, harvesting the prized produce.

The Perfect Pumpkin provides parents and teachers with an assortment of creative arts and crafts projects, including painted pumpkins, candleholders, pumpkin soap, and of course, jack-o-lanterns.

Selecting, carving, shading, and lighting these emblems of autumn is covered in minute detail. (Did you know that the perfect jack-o-lantern lid is 5-sided, cut at an angle, and at least 4 but no more than 8 inches is diameter?)

For culinary versatility, the pumpkin scores surprisingly high. The Perfect Pumpkin contains more than 25 pumpkin recipes for every part of the meal, from Pumpkin Pancakes, to Pumpkin-Tomato Soup with Basil, to Pumpkin Ice Cream with Cranberry-Raspberry Sauce Ü even beer and wine can be made from pumpkins!

Of course, several variations on traditional pumpkin pie are included, along with instructions for storing, freezing, canning, and drying this low-calorie, no-fat food.

Source lists of pumpkin-related organizations, carving supplies, contests, and seed sources are also included.

The Perfect Pumpkin can be delivered to your door. Ordering is easy and secure, thanks to our association with Amazon.com Books. Just click on the link below:

The Perfect Pumpkin ~ Ships in 2-3 days

Gail Damerow / Paperback / Published 1997
Our Price: $10.36 ~ You Save: $2.59 (20%)

For more books like this one, visit Vermont Weathervane Country Bookstore.