Book Review – The Perfect Pumpkin

The Perfect Pumpkin by Gail Damerow is a book I pick up at the library.  I really enjoyed reading this book and decided to do this review on my own.  I have no association with the author of this book and I received no financial benefit from this review.  The post does contain affiliate links where you can purchase the book.  If you purchase through this link I will receive a small commission.

Book reviews are something I have wanted to do here on Stoney Acres for a while now.  I do a lot of reading and research on gardening and I will try to give you a quick review of the books I’m reading to let you know if they are worth buying.

 

A link to what ever book I am reviewing will always be on the top left side bar of the page.  This link will take you to Amazon where you can buy the book if you would like to.  Here’s the promise I give to you, I will only review and recommend books that are really good.  Of course I would love it if you click on the Amazon link on my review and buy the book so I can make a little commission, but it is more important for me to keep you as a reader on my blog.   So I’m not going to promote junk and I’m not going to bug you about it.  If you’re interested in the book then I hope you will buy it.

 

So here goes with my first book review . . .

“The Perfect Pumpkin”  by Gail Damerow.

I picked this book up the other day at the library just looking for some advice on how to use our pumpkins in cooking. I had to laugh when I went to chapter 7 “Pumpkin Eater” and found the pages covered in little flecks of pumpkin “guts”. Apparently someone else had the same idea and chose to have the book close at hand while they were cooking.

I’ll be honest with you; I didn’t think it was possible to write a whole 220 pages about pumpkin.  But in The Perfect Pumpkin, Ms. Damerow really does a great job of tackling this subject and making it a very entertaining read.  Inside the pages you will find everything you will ever need to know about growing and using pumpkins.

The Perfect Pumpkin has a chapter on pumpkin history.

I had no idea how important pumpkins used to be to both the Native American population and the early settlers of the American content.  The author tells a story of a traveling preacher “praying” for a meal anywhere that didn’t have pumpkin.  Pumpkin really was important for eating for a long time in many countries.  Now a day’s most of us just eat pumpkin in pie or quick breads.  That wasn’t always the case.

Other chapters in The Perfect Pumpkin include a great breakdown of the different types of pumpkins out there.  Did you know that carving pumpkins are not necessarily the best pumpkin for eating?  I was a little disappointed to learn that, as we were planning to try eating some of our pumpkins this year.  We may still give it a try with a few of the smaller pumpkins we grew, but next year we will be planting some Sugar or pie pumpkins for sure.

Common Pests and Diseases

The book includes a great chapter on growing pumpkins and another on common pests and diseases.  I was particularly impressed with the section on pest management.  She takes a very level approach to pest management including using methods that would be considered organic first before escalating things to herbicides and pesticides.  There’s even a chapter on growing giant pumpkins if that is something that interests you.

She includes a great little chapter on how to carve pumpkins or use them in other types of decorations.  She then ends the book with a really good discussion on using pumpkins in cooking.  We are not just talking about pies.  She includes recipes for pie, cakes, pancakes, soups, chili, pickles and much more.  Also there are instructions for using the seeds either raw or roasted.  Even instructions for making pumpkin flour????!!!!

I’ll admit I picked this book up thinking I’d only read the chapter on cooking with pumpkin.  I ended up reading the whole book cover to cover.  It is full of a lot of great information and is really written in a very enjoyable style.  I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to read and how well written the book was.  So if you interest in growing pumpkins either to eat or just to carve pick up a copy of The Perfect Pumpkin today.