What is the National Vegetable of India?

If I ask you, what is the national vegetable of India? Confused? We are all aware of the national animal, bird and fruit of India but overlook the national vegetable of the country. So, what is it? Take it casually. It’s not an exam. I am going to discuss the nitty-gritty of the country’s national vegetable. 

What comes to your mind when you hear the name “Pumpkin”? Remember, we use to call chubby people as the “Pumpkin”. Do you also think the same? There is an inextricable connection between pumpkin and India because it is the national vegetable of India (It’s not official). It started its journey from 7500 to 5000 BC in North America, considered to be the oldest plant on the earth. As of 2018, India and China produced half of the 27 million tonnes of pumpkins. 

Historical Connection between Pumpkin and India (National Vegetable of India)

Food historian K.T. Achaya composes that pumpkins are a part of our food from ancient occasions and were developed on the banks of streams in town edges. 

Also Read: Standard Meridian for India

Chinese traveller Xuan Zang, who visited 110 of the 138 realms in all aspects of India somewhere in the range of 629 and 645 AD, referenced pumpkin, ginger, mustard and melon. Ibn Battuta saw those solitary pumpkins filled in the dry stream beds in certain tracks neighbouring the Sindh desert.

We do not have to accept the importance as it is already proved to all the country’s people and of course, the whole world. 

Importance of Pumpkin to Our Health

1. Good for health and heart, pumpkin comprises fibre, potassium and vitamin c. people who are involved with hypertension or commonly known as high blood pressure, can benefit from this vegetable because it decreases sodium intake.  
2. A range of inevitable vitamins and minerals are there in pumpkins, such as vitamins A, C, B-6, iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, manganese and many more, which can help us in various ways to build a healthy life. 
3. Take 100-gram of pumpkin, and you get 26 Kcal of energy which fuels your day to day jobs. 

Characteristics of Pumpkin

1. It doesn’t require great soil. It grows as a climber or creeper.
2. It grows well, especially in the hot season.
3. Pumpkin is called poor people’s vegetable because it grows easily and gives awesome vegetables.
4. Produced in all regions of the country, pumpkin is very famous to everyone. 

Also Read: Why Were Chainsaws Invented?

Cultural Values of Pumpkin

1. Pumpkins are regularly used for enlivening lamps called jack-o’- lanterns for the Halloween season. The custom of cutting jack-o-lanterns from pumpkins gets from legends about a lost soul wandering the earth.
2. Pumpkin chunking is a serious movement wherein groups construct different mechanical gadgets intended to toss a pumpkin quite far. 

The record for the world’s heaviest pumpkin, 1,190.5 kg, was set up in Belgium in 2016. In the United States, the town of Half Moon Bay, California, holds a yearly Art and Pumpkin festival, including the World Champion Pumpkin Weigh-Off