As summer gives way to fall, pumpkins begin to take center stage. Harvested in October, this versatile and highly nutritious fruit can be found in desserts, soups and breads. Pumpkins are deeply ingrained into our fall customs, from pumpkin carvings to traditional Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. Read on to discover more intriguing facts about pumpkins!

1. The world’s heaviest pumpkin weighed 2,009 pounds. It was found at the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield, Massachusetts in September of 2012. Tipping the scale at 2,009 pounds, this pumpkin beat out the previous record holder by nearly 200 pounds. The pumpkin’s grower, Ron Wallace of Rhode Island, was also the first known person to grow a pumpkin weighing 1,500 pounds.

2. Pumpkins have been cultivated in North America for more than 9,000 years. The oldest evidence of pumpkins in the Americas was found in Mexico and dates back as early as 7000 BC. Originally grown in the United States by Native Americans, the crops were picked up and renamed by early European settlers in the early 1600’s. This highly versatile fruit had many uses for early American civilizations: the flowers, seeds, shell and leaves were eaten; the pumpkins themselves were cleaned and used as bowls; and they even became a source of beer for European settlers when supplies ran low.

3. The pumpkin pie recipe made its debut in Amelia Simmons’ cookbook American Cookery, published in 1796. This cookbook is the first one to be written by an American and published in the United States, and it is also the first that used foods and ingredients that were native to America.

4. The largest pumpkin pie ever made had a diameter of twenty feet, and weighed nearly 3,700 pounds. It took six hours to bake, and included roughly 900 pounds of pumpkin, 300 pounds of sugar, 62 gallons of evaporated milk, 3.5 pounds of salt, 2 pounds of pumpkin spice, 7 pounds of cinnamon, and 1,860 eggs. It was baked in 2005 by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers in Ohio, and more than 5,000 people showed up for the event.

5. Pumpkins are grown on six continents. With the exception of Antarctica, pumpkins are grown on every continent. They are grown across the world for a variety of uses; a majority of pumpkins are grown for processing, while other crops are used for animal feed or ornamental sales. The biggest international pumpkin producers include China, Mexico, India, Canada and the United States.