Yes it was originally turnips. but when the tradition moved to America it became pumpkins due to their greater availability and the lack of turnips. the christian folktale behind jack-o-lanterns is quite interesting.
Bryan, here in Switzerland the carving of turnips is done with enthusiasm. For some art, do a Google picture search on “räbeliechtli” or “raabeliechtli” to treat your eyes.
Traditionally there is a räbeliechtli-parade done at dusk with little children and their turnip (raabe) lanterns around this time of year.
What? There’s a greater availability of something? And a lack of the other thing that was normally used? This could not possibly happen at the same time.
I’ve carved zucchini and cucumbers . . . it’s better than eating the zucchini, and it was the old oversize cucumbers that had been missed during the summer.
You don’t, because turnips, as a fully grown root vegetable, do not have seeds. If you leave a turnip in the ground without waiting for the /roots/ to be ready, eventually the plant above will flower and that’s where you get the seeds.
So a turnip, as a vegetable, does not technically have seeds. At all.
Turnips are hardy biennials, even though we treat them as annuals. They naturally flower and go to seed in the second year.
In the first year, they sometimes may bolt (flower and go to seed early) due to stress caused by extreme temperatures (cold
or hot) or lack of nutrients or water. Such stresses can also result in little or no root growth, a root that forms above ground,
or greens only. So:
Year one: they grow a storage root accumulating energy.
Year two: the root uses that energy to produce a flower stalk, sets seed, then dies.
I believe this practice should be extended toward other fruits, vegetables, and people I don’t like.
Well, I believe turnips were used originally…
Yes it was originally turnips. but when the tradition moved to America it became pumpkins due to their greater availability and the lack of turnips. the christian folktale behind jack-o-lanterns is quite interesting.
I’m having difficulty imagining someone cut open, hollow out and sticking a candle inside a turnip, probably mainly because they’re small.
Bryan, here in Switzerland the carving of turnips is done with enthusiasm. For some art, do a Google picture search on “räbeliechtli” or “raabeliechtli” to treat your eyes.
Traditionally there is a räbeliechtli-parade done at dusk with little children and their turnip (raabe) lanterns around this time of year.
Also, pumpkins are much easier to hollow out and stick a candle in…
What? There’s a greater availability of something? And a lack of the other thing that was normally used? This could not possibly happen at the same time.
NEVER! It’s like… some creationist MYTH for new traditions… Also, I love the name.
Nobody’s gonna talk about the “and people I don’t like” bit?
I’ve carved zucchini and cucumbers . . . it’s better than eating the zucchini, and it was the old oversize cucumbers that had been missed during the summer.
What I have a problem with is…how do you roast the seeds of a turnip?
That’s not too hard.
The difficult part is to find and extract the seeds!
You don’t, because turnips, as a fully grown root vegetable, do not have seeds. If you leave a turnip in the ground without waiting for the /roots/ to be ready, eventually the plant above will flower and that’s where you get the seeds.
So a turnip, as a vegetable, does not technically have seeds. At all.
Shhh, don’t listen to her…
Turnips are hardy biennials, even though we treat them as annuals. They naturally flower and go to seed in the second year.
In the first year, they sometimes may bolt (flower and go to seed early) due to stress caused by extreme temperatures (cold
or hot) or lack of nutrients or water. Such stresses can also result in little or no root growth, a root that forms above ground,
or greens only. So:
Year one: they grow a storage root accumulating energy.
Year two: the root uses that energy to produce a flower stalk, sets seed, then dies.
I’ve always found jack-o-lanterns to be a waste of good empanada material.
Hmm…never had pumpkin empanadas, sounds awesome, would make for an interesting change from my favored whipped cream delivery vehicle, pumpkin pie.
I’ve done that – eat some pie with my whipped cream. Not always, but once or twice.
Or Blachinda (a Germans-from-Russia delicacy of a multitude of spellings)!
https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/recipes/blachinda