Pumpkins...or Should We Say Squash?



Termini's fabulous coffee cake, starring Pumpkin!

 The Reading Terminal Market looks remarkable at this time of year.


Fall fruit and vegetables, particularly squash, is in evidence everywhere.  Make sure that you swing by the grocers, such as Iovine Bros. and Fair Food Farmstand, and revel in the abundance of color and textures.

Many of the merchants have seized this opportunity to work with squash in its various guises - acorn, butternut and turban squash to name but a few varieties...

Much ink has been spilled debating the relative merits of squash versus pumpkin. 

We've read numerous articles attempting to define what constitutes a squash and what is a pumpkin.

Our favorite sweeping definition to date:

• You carve a pumpkin
• You cook a squash (it's invariably sweeter and not as hard)
• You look at a gourd i.e. it's ornamental and not good for eating.  

Few people however observe these niceties; people mostly refer to pumpkins as anything that's orange and is a member of the squash family.  We'll go with the flow.  Here's a wonderful pumpkin, corn and poblano fritter recipe from our friend Jon at 12th Street Cantina. 



Can you sort out the gourds from the squash - tricky eh?

The knobbly multicolored ones are mostly gourds, the rest are edible squash.  The green ones at the back are our favorites - sweet little acorn squash. 

Other Pumpkin-related produce at the Market includes:

Pumpkin and other delicious Fruit Butters from the Pennsylvania Dutch

Pumpkin Whoopee Pies from Flying Monkey

We'll share other Pumpkin recipes in the week to follow.  Watch out for the Pumpkin Soup coming this way soon...