In the lead-up to Halloween, front porches across the country feature fat, proudly carved pumpkins, lit from within by tea lights. But this year there is likely to be a shortage due to drought, experts have warned, with the squashes much smaller than usual. Mini pumpkins will have to be used, and some have suggested that those celebrating the spooky festival draw faces on vegetables instead of carving them.
England has faced a punishing drought for most of this year, which has dramatically affected harvests. Data has found that this year could be the worst harvest on record as farmers struggled to irrigate their crops. Pumpkins are 90% water, and need a lot of it to grow.
The vegetables are native to the Americas and were brought over in the Tudor period, during the 16th century. Guy Singh-Watson, the founder of organic veg box company Riverford, said: “After such an extraordinarily hot, dry summer, it’s not surprising that Halloween pumpkins are smaller than usual as they are mostly water. But perhaps it’s time we questioned our obsession with giant carving pumpkins in the first place.” Shunning pumpkins would go some way to bringing the carving of vegetables tradition back to its roots.
The custom began in 17th-century Britain while marking the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which was when spirits were thought to roam the Earth. Rather than pumpkins, root vegetables such as celeriac, turnips and mangelwurzels were carved into grotesque faces, and some believed they could ward off evil spirits. Guy Barter, the chief horticulturalist at the Royal Horticultural Society, said: “Pumpkins are on the small side this year unless heavily watered.
Such drought makes watering sufficiently very difficult to accomplish in practice. Pumpkins are relatively drought-tolerant but this year the weather stretched their tolerance to the limit. Their dry matter content and rind hardness are both excellent so the crop should store well, although commercial pumpkins become worthless the day after Halloween.
That’s a pity as they make lovely soups until the new year when the much tastier winter squashes take over.” Singh-Watson said the growing of a large, watery squash simply to throw it away after Halloween was wasteful, adding: “I’ve enjoyed growing pumpkins before, they’re a lovely crop, but the idea of growing something that’s going to be thrown away has become increasingly difficult to justify. Growing any crop comes with an environmental cost, and generating a mountain of waste without feeding anyone makes little sense.” The vegetable entrepreneur has been growing a selection of small, colourful squashes and is now selling a box containing a selection including crown prince, red onion, sweet lightning, futsu and stripetti. He said: “This time of the year should be a celebration of the wonderful abundance of seasonal vegetables that see us through autumn and winter.
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