Heirloom Pumpkin
Long Island Cheese Pumpkin is a creamy-skinned heirloom that resembles a wheel of aged cheese, with dramatic ribbing and sweet, rich flesh that made it the go-to culinary variety before canned pumpkin became standard. This cold-tolerant cultivar produces 6-10 pound fruits ready to harvest in 90-108 days and thrives in zones 3-9, requiring full sun and moderate water. It stores exceptionally well for 90-100 days after harvest, making it a genuine kitchen staple rather than just a decorative gourd.
Full Sun
Moderate
3-9
24in H x ?in W
Annual
Moderate
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Before supermarket shelves were lined with canned pumpkin, families on Long Island sought out this very squash for their Thanksgiving pies. The creamy white skin with prominent ridges catches the eye, but it's the rich, sweet flesh inside that explains why seed stewards fought to keep this variety alive. Dense and flavorful, these 6-10 pound fruits are sized perfectly for actual cooking, and they'll keep in your pantry longer than almost any other pumpkin you can grow.
This variety is grown expressly for cooking and baking, particularly pies. The dense, sweet flesh and manageable 6-10 pound size make it far superior to the watery jack-o-lantern varieties sold at autumn markets. Gardeners who grow this pumpkin do so for genuine culinary purposes: roasting, puree for pies and soups, and other traditional squash preparations where flavor and texture matter. Its excellent storage life means harvest can be extended throughout fall and winter cooking.
Direct sow after the last frost date when soil is warm. Pumpkins prefer to establish directly in the garden rather than through transplanting.
Harvest when the skin has turned completely creamy white and the rind is hard enough that a fingernail cannot pierce it, typically 90-108 days from planting (sources vary between 90-100 and 100-108 day ranges). Cut the stem with a sharp knife rather than pulling, leaving 2-3 inches of stem attached to the fruit. Harvest before the first hard frost in your region, as frost damages the skin and compromises storage.
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“The Long Island Cheese Pumpkin carries a uniquely American story of near-extinction and passionate seed saving. One of the oldest cultivated squashes in America, it was once common on Long Island farms and in home gardens throughout the region. By the 1970s, as industrial canning transformed how Americans ate pumpkin, this heirloom was fading from seed catalogs and family gardens. Ken Ettlinger, who grew up on Long Island in the 1950s and whose mother made Thanksgiving pie from the family's cheese pumpkins, noticed the variety becoming increasingly rare. Rather than let the pies become just a memory, he began saving seeds in the 1970s. His efforts, combined with the work of the Long Island Regional Seed Consortium and Glynwood's Kitchen Cultivars, have brought this regional treasure back from the brink. Today, it stands as a testament to what individual gardeners and seed-saving networks can accomplish.”