Throughout Ireland and Britain, there’s a long-standing tradition of carving lanterns from such vegetables as potatoes, gourds, rutabagas, beets, and particularly turnips, which is what my sister and brothers and I used at Halloween for our jack-o’-lanterns to honor the tale of Stingy Jack.
As the legend goes, the sinful and worthless Jack—also known as Jack the Smith, Drunk Jack, and Jack O’ the Lantern—trapped the devil himself by luring him up an apple tree and keeping him there by circling the trunk with crosses. He let him down on the condition he’d not take Jack’s soul when he died. But when he died, his soul wasn’t pure enough to enter heaven, and he was scared to wander alone in the darkness between there and the underworld. Jack asked to enter Hell. The resentful demon couldn’t take his soul because of the bargain he’d made. He tossed Jack a perpetually burning ember to light his way on his ascent out, forever marking him as a denizen of the underworld. He carried it in a hollowed-out vegetable, fashioned into a lantern. When the Irish brought this tradition to the United States, they soon discovered that pumpkins were bigger and easier to hollow out, and a new custom was born.
For your best chance at raising carve-worthy pumpkins, you’ll want to look at the variety. The egg-yolk yellow, midsize Dependable is a good choice, as the name might lead you to believe. Atlantic Giants also do quite well, if you’re willing to temper your expectations. They’ll thrive in Irish soil, but they won’t live up to their names as they might in a warmer, sunnier climate.
If you’re looking for the best cooking pumpkins, look to the following varieties: the Long Pie or Nantucket Pie, which is elongated rather than round, and has smooth and stringless flesh; the Small Sugar or New England Pie, which is particularly sweet, with a dense and smooth flesh; the Long Island Cheese pumpkin, so named for its shape’s resembling a cheese wheel, featuring very sweet flesh; or the Winter Luxury, one of the sweetest varieties of all.
Of course, canned pumpkin has become easier to find in Ireland, and it’ll do, but I prefer what’s grown in my own backyard for optimal flavor, and freshness.