CARLSBAD, CA — Orange is the color that has been most closely associated with Halloween and the pumpkin patch season in Carlsbad every fall. But pumpkin enthusiasts have noticed the increasing popularity of white pumpkins as they search local fields for the best of the crop — the perfect choice for a ghostly jack-o’-lantern.
White pumpkins were viewed more as an accident of genetics, or a rare novelty, until the early 21st century, according to a number of blog posts on the subject. Since around 2000, however, they’ve become a popular sales item as more and more white pumpkins are grown intentionally.
It’s quite possible more than a few of the albino pumpkins, often referred to as ghost pumpkins, will pop up at visits to pumpkin patches and fields this fall in or near Carlsbad:
While the differences between white pumpkins and the traditional orange ones may seem striking at first, there are fewer than many may think.
Both white and orange pumpkins grow on long trailing vines as members of the Cucurbitaceae family, the farmers market app Specialty Produce states.
The lifestyle blog “New Life on a Homestead” points out that not only are white pumpkins as edible as orange pumpkins, white pumpkin can substitute orange pumpkin in nearly all recipes.
The biggest difference, the blog noted, is that some studies have suggested due to their pale coloration, white pumpkins have fewer vitamins than their orange counterparts. There’s not enough research to solidly back up that claim, however, according to the blog.
It’s possible that some albino pumpkins have the same amount of vitamin A and other carotenoids, “but it’s likely they have less,” SuperFoodly.com, an Amazon service, noted.
