Consumer Survey on Specialty Pumpkin Preferences

Emmalea Ernest, Scientist – Vegetable & Fruit Crops; emmalea@udel.edu and Gordon Johnson, Extension Vegetable & Fruit Specialist; gcjohn@udel.edu

Many specialty pumpkin varieties are available and perhaps you are still considering which varieties to plant in 2023. In 2021 and 2022 Gordon grew more than thirty different varieties in demonstration plots. In 2022 we conducted consumer surveys at two different events in September and collected responses from 137 people. Survey participants were asked to indicate which pumpkins they liked. The most frequently chosen varieties are listed below and pictured in Figure 1. Warty types, blue types, varieties with striped and mottled coloration, white pumpkins and flat types were popular. Yellow varieties, tan (butternut colored) varieties and unusually shaped orange varieties were less favored by survey participants (Figure 2).

Figure 1. The varieties most frequently liked by survey participants.

Figure 2. Pumpkin types that were less favored by survey participants.