According to some handy reporting by NPR, the best storage temperature for a pumpkin is between 50 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit. But here in the Mile High City, our widely fluctuating fall temperatures make that difficult. With near-freezing temperatures common during the morning and at night, contrasted with balmy, 60- to 70-degree mid-day temperatures, pumpkins’ plant cells are constantly freezing and thawing, which causes pumpkins to rot.
Assuming you bought pumpkins already cut from the vine and kept outside a grocery store, this freezing and thawing process had already weakened the pumpkins' cellular structure before you even took them home and conjured up a design to slice.
But never fear! If there’s any authority in town that’s all too aware of these pumpkin challenges, it’s Denver Botanic Gardens. Each year for its Glow at the Gardens event, the DBG picks out, carves and maintains roughly 3,000 pumpkins so that it can display intricate jack-o-lanterns and larger-than-life structures. (The event is over for this year.)
How, we wondered, do the jack-o-lantern experts over at the Gardens keep their pumpkins at their freshest?
Taking up Westword's inquiry, they sent three suggestions, incorporated in this handy infographic:
Denver Botanic Gardens
