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Have you ever created your idea jack-o-lantern and wished that you could keep it forever — and not just as a photograph? Well, Dennis and Tyler Szabo have just the thing for you.

The Szabos are the father and son team behind Funkins, a company that makes artificial pumpkins. “Funkins” are made out of polyurethane foam and designed to look as much like real pumpkins as possible. In fact, real pumpkins are used to make the molds.

“We try to duplicate the authenticity of the product with the paint,” Dennis Szabo told CBS4 Weekend Morning News, in Denver.

You can buy Funkins online and at various craft stores for between $5 and $20 depending on the size.

O.K. I just have to say it — pumpkins rock! They are an excellent source of fiber and vitamin A, are a good source of antioxidants, and now, they may contain an compound that helps protect against diabetes.

Researchers in China found that an extract from pumpkin (Cucurbita ficifolia) promoted the regeneration of damaged pancreatic cells in diabetic rats, boosting levels of insulin-producing beta cells and insulin in the blood.

The rats used in this study, conducted by scientists from the East China Normal University, modeled type-1 diabetes, but the researchers believe the pumpkin extract may also play a role in type-2 diabetes. It is also their hope that the research can be reproduced in humans. Read more »

A Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Industrial Technology lecturer and Associate Professor has developed a flour made from pumpkins. According to Noor Aziah Abdul Aziz, who developed the pumpkin flour for bread with her partner, there is difference in taste from traditional wheat flour, but it does offer more health benefits.

She claims that the pumpkin flour is a good source of dietary fiber, is a natural colorant, and, due to its beta carotene content, has antioxidant properties.

Noor Aziah took three years to develop the flour. She chose flour because bread “is one of the most widely consumed food products by all age groups.”

The pumpkin flour won the gold medal at the 18th International Invention, Innovation, Industrial Design and Technology Exhibition (Itex) 2007 held in Kuala Lumpur in May. It also won Noor Aziah the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Award for Best Woman Inventor at the exhibition.

A Japanese researcher has developed a wild pumpkin variant that is as sweet as pineapple. Tomoaki Oyamada, from Iwate prefectural government’s environmental and health research center, has named his creation “Nanbu-Ichiro” after “Nanbu,” the former name of Iwate Prefecture, and “Ichiro,” the given name of Ichiro Yokota, a former high school headmaster.

According to The Yomiuri Shimbun, the new variety contains three times as much sugar density as the more widely consumed varieties and can be eaten raw or made into juice without adding sugar.

Some students at the Morioka Agricultural High School, where Oyamada taught until March, assisted with the project. “Nothing would give us greater pleasure than to see this pumpkin become a specialty of Iwate Prefecture,” a third-year student said.

According to WSIL Channel 3, an ABC affiliate out of Illinois, someone pinched more than 100 pumpkins sometime Aug. 2. White County Authorities are seeking these pumpkin pilferers and there is a reward for information leading to the arrest of the squash shoplifters. The pumpkins were in the back of a truck belonging to a farm near Norris City.

But these looters are more than just pumpkin poachers. They’re vandals, as well. For they drove around White and Hamilton Counties throwing the gorgeous orange gourds at mailboxes. Several people reported damage.

Russia Looks at Pumpkin Pectin
According to Stephen Daniells of Nutraingredients-USA.com, Russian research indicates that “pectin extracted from pumpkin and then modified using an enzyme could offer an interesting alternative for jams and confectionery.” More

First Pumpkin Seed Oil Created in US
“Pumpkin seed oil is big in Austria and France, where it is used in salads and drizzled over cooked foods, especially roasted meats,” Ken Seguine told Darlene Ramos of The Dunn County News. He’s created the US’ first pumpkin seed oil, a high-end product that imparts the taste of roasted pumpkin seeds to many foods. More

Pumpkin Crop Depends, In Part, On Honey Bees
The news has reported a mysterious malady called “colony collapse disorder” has seriously affected honey bee colonies throughout the U.S. This not only impacts the future of honey production, but crops that depend on honey bees for pollination. According to Terry Bibo of the PJ Journal Star, “Some crops are more vulnerable than others. Corn, for example, does not need bees.” However, honey bees are the main pollinator of pumpkins. Bibo’s story discusses how the decreased honey bee population may not adversely affect the pumpkin crop in Illinois. More

In July, Half Moon Bay in California unanimously appointed an award-winning pumpkin farmer to City Council.

“Good leaders step up when they’re needed and I’ll find out if I have something to offer,” John Muller, owner of Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm and Daylight Farms, told the San Mateo Daily Journal.

I just think that’s cool. For more information about Farmer John’s story, visit www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=61478.