Aging a pumpkin makes it ageless.
About ten years ago, a company I was working for had a pumpkin carving/decorating contest. I chose a small pumpkin from amongst those provided by the company and drew a simple face design on it using a pencil. Carefully, I carved the face by poking small holes along the pencil marks with a pointed tool, and then working the tool back-and-forth in the holes to connect the dots. The result was a cheerful little jack-o’-lantern, shown above with a tea candle burning inside.
While trying different exposures with the camera, I discovered that significant light passed through the pumpkin’s flesh (note the orange flesh in the photo above). It surprised me that the flesh wasn’t more opaque.
After the contest, I set the little pumpkin aside (it did not win) wondering whether it would retain its design as it dried out. Within a few days it became quite a mushy mess, and I set it outside on the patio until it could be taken to the trash. Out of sight, in a quiet corner well-protected from the elements, it sat for many months, and by the time I next came upon it had dried out completely. It now weighed very little. The lid had been left inverted, and was now permanently stuck in place that way. Shrunken and wrinkled, it gave the appearance of very old age.
Figuring it might be useful as a future Halloween decoration, I stored it safely away, and it hasn’t changed noticeably in the intervening years. This aged pumpkin, shown above in a recent photo, lives on.
dcs995 