The following are the questions – and the answers to the pumpkin quiz that appeared in Thursday’s special Pumpkin Fair section in the Manteca Bulletin.

1. According to the University of Illinois, the self-proclaimed Pumpkin Capital of the World is in
b) Morton, Illinois where you’ll find Libby foods pumpkin industry.

2) Pumpkins contain healthy doses of: c) potassium and vitamin A

3. The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed: c) 1,140 pounds

4. Perry & Sons is the largest broker of pumpkins on the West Coast. Who is the patriarch of the Perry pumpkin clan in Manteca? c) George Perry

5. Pumpkins are part of the: a) Cucurbita family that includes squash and cucumbers

6. Pumpkins are 90 percent: c) Water

7. In early colonial times, pumpkins were used primarily not as pie filling but as an ingredient for: c) pie crusts

8. The traditional American pumpkin is the: b) Connecticut field variety

9. What was the one thing that native American Indians did not use pumpkins for? b) They gutted them and carved faces in them to ward off evil harvest spirits.

10. Who was the colorful Manteca character who first advanced the idea of having a Manteca Miss Pumpkin to acknowledge the area’s status of a large producer of pumpkins: a) Patrick O’Leary, a former editor of the now defunct Manteca News

11) What part of the pumpkin isn’t edible: b) The stem

12) Manteca’s first informal pumpkin fair at Library Park staged by local growers involved small scale pumpkin games for kids. It’s only non-pumpkin attraction was: c) Two belly dancers

13) The first service club to expand the Pumpkin Fair beyond what the growers started was:
b) Manteca Jaycees

14) At one time, it was thought pumpkins could: b) remove freckles and cure snake bites

15) Manteca has claimed a number of agricultural titles as claims to fame long before pumpkins. Which one of the following was not something that Manteca was referred to as?
c) Land of a Million Sugar Beets

16) What percent of pumpkins grown in the United States goes to market in October? c) 75 percent

17) What did Native Americans call pumpkins? b) Isqotum squash

18) The making of jack-o-lanterns at Halloween originated from: a) an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.”

19) Pumpkins originated in: b) Central America

20) The name pumpkin originated from: a) “peopon” - the Greek word for “large melon.”

21) Pumpkins by definition are: a) Fruit