Featured Vegetable Product: Pumpkin juice concentrate

Pumpkin is a great vegetable source for Vitamin A ( as beta carotene) and C, and folic acid and provides a nutritious and colorful vegetable ingredient for a wide variety of food and beverage products. Pumpkin is also a great source of fiber and minerals like iron, zinc and magnesium.

Pumpkins, belonging to the squash family, are indigenous to North America, and were used by Native Americans as both food and medicine. Pumpkins contain high concentrations of important antioxidant carotenoids. Two important carotenoids are Lutein and Zeaxanthin which contribute to good eye health.

Pumpkin juice concentrate is carefully processed from fresh, wholesome pumpkin to provide the essential nutrition and color, in a convenient, ready to use ingredient form. Pumpkin juice concentrate is an excellent ingredient to add a vegetable serving your retail label for beverages, yogurts, nutrition bars and snacks and other processed foods.

Contact Encore Fruit Marketing today for product samples and information on Pumpkin juice concentrate at www.encorefruit.com or Click Here to use our convenient Contact Form.

Pumpkin plants have large, prickly leaves and produce male and female flowers. Only the male pumpkin blossoms have pollen that is transferred by bees to the female flowers. Pollinated female blossoms develop into pumpkins. But each female flower opens for pollination for only one day. In addition, most pumpkin blossoms are male. As a result, few flowers actually produce pumpkins.

Pumpkins grow on vines and bushes. Those on vines are planted in mounds about 12 feet (3.7 meters) apart. Bush varieties are spaced closer together. Pumpkins thrive in slightly acid soil, and most mature about four months after the seeds are planted. Ripe pumpkins that are well developed can be stored at 40°F to 50°F (4°C to 10°C) for several months.

Pumpkin plants need careful cultivation to produce healthy fruit. For example, pumpkin growers use pesticides or mosquito netting to prevent plant damage by insects.

Pumpkins are monoecious, having both male and female flowers on the same plant. The female flower is distinguished by the small ovary at the base of the petals. These bright and colorful flowers have extremely short life spans and may only open for as short a time as one day. The color of pumpkins is derived from the orange pigments abundant in them. The main nutrients are lutein and both alpha and beta carotene, the latter of which generates vitamin A in the body.

Pumpkins probably originated in North America. Seeds from related plants dating back to 7000 to 5500 B.C. have been found in Mexico.

Contact Encore Fruit Marketing today for product samples and information at www.encorefruit.com or Click Here to use our convenient Contact Form.