Tom Nardone offers unconventional ideas about jack-o’-lanterns in his book Extreme Pumpkins, which has this example on the cover. Story on Page J4.

The Penguin Group Publishing Co.

The late Rodney Dangerfield could probably relate to pumpkins: They don’t get no respect.

Most people don’t realize that pumpkins were once a prized commodity — a prime source of sustenance for early settlers, who could count on the pumpkins to stay fresh and edible even through the harsh New England winters, said Kristen Dame, an agricultural extension agent at the University of Rhode Island.

Today, they’re viewed as little more than disposable decorations — something to be carved out, lit up and trotted out for Halloween, and then tossed into the garbage can along with the candy wrappers.

But pumpkins offer so much more, Dame said, whether they’re used in soups and soufflÉs or as boats in pumpkin regattas.

“You can do so many fun things with them,” Dame said.

So this Halloween, we pay our respects to the pumpkin by sharing some tidbits about them.

HISTORY

Pumpkins originated in Mexico but are now grown around the world.

The name pumpkin comes from “pepon,” the Greek word for “large melon.” The little green seed in the hull is known as a “pepita,” the Spanish word for seed.

There are at least a dozen varieties, Dame said, ranging from small sugar and white pumpkins to the traditional carving pumpkins we know as jack-o’-lanterns, as well as the giant pumpkins trotted out this time of year for pumpkin weighing contests

“And within each kind there are lots of different varieties,” Dame said. “It’s like dogs. You’ve got all kinds of breeds of dogs, and within each breed, you’ve got all these different lines of dogs… [Pumpkins are] very complex.”

The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin.

The University of Illinois reports that 90 percent of the pumpkin crop in the United States is grown within 90 miles of Peoria, Ill. The top producing pumpkin states are Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California.

The most recent statistics available, from 2005, show that farmers in this country grew more than 1 billion pounds of pumpkin, said Marion Gold, a spokeswoman for the University of Rhode Island. Ohio led the country in pumpkin revenue that year, selling $26.1 million worth.

LEGEND

Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites, according to the University of Illinois’ pumpkin facts Web site. But there’s no scientific evidence that pumpkins do any more than stain the skin orange.

FRUIT OR VEGGIE?

Most people don’t realize that pumpkins are a form of fruit, Gold said. In fact, just last year, after being urged to do so by the state’s children, lawmakers declared the pumpkin the official state fruit of New Hampshire.

Pumpkins and pumpkins seeds are also incredibly healthy foodstuffs. A half-cup of pumpkin has only 81 calories, is high in fiber and low in fat and provides a full day’s supply of potassium and vitamin A, Gold said. Pumpkin seeds are loaded with iron, zinc, potassium and magnesium. Pumpkins are also 90 percent water.

Most pumpkins nationwide are harvested in mid-September. They keep just fine in a cool, dry place, and can be used all winter. They’re simple to cook: use them in a variety of concoctions, from brownies and breads to baked meals. “You can grill it, you can boil it, you can do anything with pumpkins,” she said.

JACK-O’-LANTERNS

What most people do with pumpkins this time of year is carve them into jack-o’-lanterns. It’s a tradition brought to America by the Irish, according to a Web site called the Pumpkin Nook, which founder Bob Matthews of Rochester, N.Y., describes as the “Internet shrine and library for pumpkins. According to the story on Matthews’ Web site, there was a mean old drunk named Stingy Jack who once tricked the Devil into climbing a tree. Once the Devil was up there, Stingy Jack quickly surrounded the base of the tree with crosses. The only way the Devil could get down was to promise Stingy Jack that he wouldn’t take his soul when he died, and then Stingy Jack removed the crosses. Many years later, Stingy Jack died. But St. Peter decided he was too mean and too cruel while he was alive to let him into heaven, so he turned Stingy Jack away. And the Devil had already agreed not to take his soul. So when Jack asked him how he’d find his way in the darkness between heaven and hell, the Devil tossed him an ember from his flames and Jack placed it inside a turnip — one of his favorite foods. From then on, he reportedly roamed the earth with no place to rest, with only his jack-o’-lantern to light the way. So every year, on All Hallow’s Eve, the Irish would hollow out turnips, rutabagas, gourds and potatoes and light them with candles to keep away Stingy Jack and ward off all evil spirits. And when the Irish came to America in the 1800s, they discovered pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve so the pumpkins became the jack-o’-lanterns.

WORLD RECORDS

Rhode Islanders routinely set — and then break — the record when it comes to growing the world’s largest pumpkin. Joe Jutras of Scituate did it this year, when he grew a whopping 1,689-pound pumpkin that was declared a world record breaker at the Topsfield Fair in Massachusetts last month.

Just as golfers go for the coveted “green jacket” of The Masters golf tournament, serious pumpkin growers go for the coveted “orange jacket” awarded each year by the Greater Pumpkin Commonwealth to the person who grows the largest pumpkin — this year, Jutras. The commonwealth is an organization with 10,000 members worldwide that is devoted to promoting the sport or hobby of growing giant pumpkins, Jutras explained. They also award a green jacket to the person who grows the largest squash, which typically is about 1,200 pounds.

The largest pumpkin pie ever made, according to the University of Illinois, was more than five feet in diameter, weighed more than 350 pounds, and used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.

By the way, in early Colonial times, the university’s Web site states, pumpkins were used as an ingredient in the crust for pies — not as pie filling.

GENTLE GIANTS

Pumpkins range in size from less than a pound to well over 1,000 pounds, states the University of Illinois Web site. But Jutras says it takes a special person with the interest and dedication needed to create an award winner.

Giant pumpkins can grow as much as 50 pounds in a single day, Jutras said. His world-record-breaker grew an average of 33.8 pounds a day for 35 days in a row this summer. That’s a lot more than the pumpkins commonly grown in a backyard garden, Jutras said, but the typical backyard gardener “doesn’t spend 20 hours a week and thousands of dollars on fertilizers and pesticides and fungicides.”

It takes about 750 square feet to allow the vine for one giant pumpkin to grow. Jutras said he clears a path about 25 feet wide and 30 feet long for each of his pumpkin vines, which he carefully tends from late winter when he starts the seeds indoors until the fall harvest in time for weigh-ins.

NOT CHEAP

The seeds for giant pumpkins come with giant-size price tags. The world record for the highest price for a single pumpkin seed was $850 for a 1068 Wallace, a seed from a 1,068-pound pumpkin grown by Rhode Islander Ron Wallace that was auctioned off last year, Jutras said.

NOT ANOTHER PRETTY FACE

Pumpkins aren’t just for sitting pretty.

Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkin and dried them out for use as mats.

Today, some people even race pumpkins, using them as boats in places like Windsor, Nova Scotia, which hosts an annual Pumpkin Regatta that features 500- and 600-pound pumpkins as boats.

lkirk@projo.com