By IRN
Chances are you’ve heard that Illinois is the pumpkin capital of America. Why else is the state’s official pie pumpkin pie?
Central Illinois farmers grow 90 percent of the nation’s pumpkin crop. Most will end up in a pie or on someone’s porch as a jack-o’-lantern.
But farmer John Ackerman said Illinois farms also lead the country in exotic pumpkin varieties from across the globe.
Ackerman’s farm is just outside of Morton, the pumpkin capital of Illinois.
Illinois in the pumpkin capital of America, Ackerman said, because the state has the right soil, moisture and growing season for pumpkins.
Ackerman said he grows hundreds of varieties and dozens of colors of pumpkins.
“We sell white ones, we sell red ones, we sell blue pumpkins,” Ackerman, who calls himself a professor of “pumpkinology,” said. “We get our pumpkin seeds from every continent except Antarctica. We have pumpkins that look like giant pickles, that weigh up to 60 pounds.”
Ackerman wants to remind people that the bright-orange pumpkins in the bin at the store aren’t for pies. He said you’ll need a flesh pumpkin for a pie. Ackerman sells those too, and even has a recipe to make the pie from scratch.
