As a kid, pumpkins were basic: round, orange, and typically medium to small in size. Finding a big pumpkin felt like winning the lottery, until you tried to cram it into the back of your VW Bug. There were really only two options for pumpkins back then: carve them into a jack-o’-lantern for Halloween or bake them into my brother’s famous pumpkin cheesecake at Thanksgiving. That was it. End of story. End of pumpkin.
But somewhere along the line, the pumpkin went "primetime." Maybe Charlie Brown was the catalyst, but who knows? Today, we’ve got elegant white pumpkins for modern décor, "knucklehead" pumpkins with warts for novelty, mini multi-colored pumpkins for city apartments, and massive “Forklift Specials” for front porches. And of course, what pumpkin post would be complete without the greatest innovation of our age, pumpkin spice, now turning up in everything from coffee and creamers to beers, cookies, donuts, ice cream, cereals, protein bars, candles, and even dog treats?
So, what happened here? The humble life of an orange pumpkin became a case study in innovative thinking.
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