White pumpkins can provide a great treat at Halloween

It's fall, and many a harvest festival or fall fair can be defined by food. Waffle ice cream cones, hot dogs, and iced tea are all popular today thanks to being featured at the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904. There is another even more popular treat unveiled at that fair, thanks to a newly invented machine that melts sugar and air blows it into into wisps of the first cotton candy.

Halloween means cotton candy as well, if not as a treat for costumed imps, then as a snow-white pumpkin, the new hybrid Cotton Candy pumpkin. (Cucurbita pepo). The round nine-inch fruits weigh in at a respectable 5 to 12 pounds apiece, with sweet white flesh perfect for pumpkin pies and muffins. But it is Cotton Candy's glossy white skin that makes these pumpkins especially good for painting. The stems are thick and secure and make good sturdy handles.

Cotton Candy isn't the only treat in the white pumpkin field. From South Africa, the heirloom Flat Boer White pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) can reach 25 pounds or more. Even its seeds are big and easy to roast. As the name implies, this is a flat pumpkin with deep ribs much like a white version of Cinderella's coach.

Flat Boer White pumpkins have orange interior flesh that bakes into some of the finest pies. The flesh of this pumpkin is remarkably firm even after baking.

These bluish-white pumpkins are good for long-term storage. As you would expect of such big pumpkins, Flat White Boer pumpkins grow on long, vigorous vines.

For the absolute whitest pumpkins around, try Valenciano (Cucurbita maxima) whose crystal white skin hides thick orange flesh. The 8- to 10-pound, slightly flattened Valenciano pumpkin is ideal for painting or left as is for harvest displays. Even though these are not as rugged as many orange-skinned pumpkins, Valenciano has especially dense, flavorful flesh perfectly suited for cooking. The thick handles contrast nicely.

As with any cooking pumpkin, if your white pumpkins seem a little stringy, simply puree them in a blender or food processor before cooking.

Pumpkins grow best in rich soil in full sun, the sunnier the better. After the ground has warmed up and all danger of frost has passed, plant your seeds right in the garden. Plant white pumpkin seeds in hills or mounds with each hill about three feet around. Space the hills a good six to 10 feet apart to allow for the vines to spread out. Dig a small trench around each hill to trap water. Sow five to six seeds an inch deep, about eight inches apart in a circle in the center of each hill. You can soak the seeds overnight before planting, but this isn't necessary. Your white pumpkins will germinate in seven to 14 days. Thin to the two or three best seedlings in each hill.

If you are short on space, plant the pumpkins at the edge of your garden, and gently move the vines so they sprawl onto your lawn.

Pumpkins need lots of water, so water deeply every week. Use a straw mulch to hold moisture in the soil and to keep the pumpkins clean. Wait until your white pumpkins are fully ripe before harvesting by cutting the stem with a sharp knife. Don't try to twist the pumpkins from the stems or you might damage them.

White pumpkins will give you something different for Halloween and fall displays. The flesh can be used in cooking, and the smooth, white skin is ideal for painting. They can be as fun as real cotton candy. And the inventor of that first successful cotton candy machine that made such a hit at the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904? In a twist of fate, the cotton candy machine was invented by William James Morrison, a dentist! Trick or treat indeed.