Difference between Gourds and Pumpkins
The Gourd and the Pumpkin are nurtured by several people all across the world. Dependent on the condition of the place where they are sown and cultivated, it normally takes anywhere between a hundred to a hundred and twenty days to ripen up. One of the two most favorite and popular fruits that the Americans love is the Gourd and the Pumpkin. These vegetables have been grown most popularly in the northern most part of the United States of America for the last several years presently. These two diverse varieties of fruits belong to identical families of plants, since both these products of plants are akin to the bush type of plants.
Gourds and Pumpkins even though pertain to the same family of plants do however serve entirely different purposes.
The Gourds are used throughout the world mostly as an ornament in the house or as a container to store food stuff and other material required. The Gourd is acclaimed as “Nature’s Pottery” since the shape of the gourd resembles a vase or a container or a vessel. Besides the Gourd being used as a container or vessel, one of the most well-known purposes that the Gourd serves is that of a musical instrument and particularly as a drum. It is preferred as drum since it is able to produce resonating sounds on beating it.
The Pumpkins derived their present name when they arrived on the American soil and they decided to change the name of the French derivation of “Pompon.” The Pumpkins are large sized fruits that bear an orange or yellow hue. The Greeks were the first to use pumpkins and they named it “pepon.” The Pumpkins have always been used as Jack-O-Lanterns during the Halloween festival all over the world. The fruit is cut open to give the shape of eyes and mouth and they are most popular during the festival. These glowing lanterns are to be seen hanging from each and every house during Halloween time which is one of the unique usages.
Although there are hardly many differences between gourds and pumpkins since they come up from the same family, the uses of both these fruits are varied. While gourds are much more useful as a household item serving as containers and vessels, they are also used mainly as musical instruments such as drums and a few string instruments such as the Veena or the Sitar in Indian musicology. The lower portion of these instruments consists of the gourd which provides the reverberation to the sound within the gourd. Essentially, gourds are also utilized as an ornamental item around the houses; the pumpkins are used as a food source and are edible. On reaching the stage of maturity, the gourd is dried up to form utility items and musical instruments, pumpkins when ripe provide a rich source of food as either they can be boiled, steamed, roasted or even baked as a pie. It forms a delicacy since it is delicious to eat and relish the sweet taste.
While being similar in nature, both the Gourd and the Pumpkin serve their own distinct purposes. The pumpkin fruit forms a Jack-O-Lantern providing the beauty and happiness during the Halloween festival or being served as the delicious food. The gourd brings around its exceptional utility of being transformed into an ornamental piece or a vessel for storage purposes as well as a musical instrument on account of its facility of echoing the decibels of music from within itself.