Gin-cured trout and lobster and chips: Jack Stein’s fish recipes from around the world  Telegraph logo Feed of articles Saved articles Save | Big Size Pumpkin Seeds

Over the past several years, the Youngs have tinkered, through hand-pollination, with new varieties which they hope will yield fruit that are predictably round, orange and sturdy. And big.

“This time of year, people associate pumpkin with pumpkin spice, which has nothing to do with pumpkin. There’s so much more you can do with pumpkin,” he says.

Chef Brandon Gauthier and his wife and house manager Victoria Gauthier with their children Jackson, 5, and Elijah, 2, at Confluence.(Photo: Patrick Breen/The Republic)

Sunflower seeds have antioxidant properties and are helpful in controlling high blood pressure, and chest congestion. They also improve digestion, cardiovascular health and bone health. Their nutty flavour makes them a great snack to chew on, and they are an excellent addition to salads, chicken recipes, scrambled eggs or cereal. These seeds also help to prevent osteoporosis, arthritis and asthma while also improving your hair, skin and immune system.

Keep an eye on your sunflowers this fall, whether you want to harvest them for people food or bird food. Sunflowers are mature when the back of the heads turn brown and dry. Most of the yellow petals will have dried and fallen, with the seeds still plump. Sunflowers can tolerate some frost when they are small.

"Consumers are urged not to consume these products. Consumers who purchased these products may take them back to the store where they purchased them for a refund or simply discard them," the Food and Drug Administration advises. It has a full list of recalled products on its website.

The second largest, which he named Jill, is about 400 pounds. The three others are more portly than the average pumpkin.

Moko’s substantial American-style cookies are worlds apart from the typical Parisian patisserie fare, and locals line up daily to buy the chewy treats studded with chocolate, seeds, and nuts.

Sunflowers have two main commercial uses, oil and confectionery (for direct seed consumption). Oil varieties of the flower have small, black, oil-rich seeds with thin hulls, which are pressed to produce an edible, almost tasteless, pale oil, rich in unsaturated fatty acids (especially oleic acid and linoleic acid). The oil is popular for cooking, margarine manufacture and even bio-diesel production. Leftovers from oil extraction are used to make high-protein animal feed. Confectionery types, on the other hand, have large, striped, oil-poor seeds with thick hulls. Both oil and confectionery types are the results of centuries of careful selection and breeding from wild plants.

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These green-hued nuts come from a tree that is native to western Asia, and evidence suggests that they were consumed as early as 7,000 BC. In Persia (now called Iran), pistachios symbolized wealth and high status, and in later years they were introduced to countries such as Greece, Italy, and Spain. As pistachios grow, the shell naturally cracks open halfway, making it quick and easy to reach the nut inside! Pistachios are lower in fat and calories than most other nuts, and are an excellent source of vitamin B6, which assists in the formation of hemoglobin, a molecule that helps carry oxygen in red blood cells. They are also the only nut that contain a high amount of carotenoids, which help contribute to eye health.