Think Twice Before Trying To Cook Up Your Decorative Fall Gourds

It's decorative gourd season! The cute orange and green tabletop décor you pick up at the pumpkin patch or fish out of grocery store bins might look like squash, but have you ever been tempted to eat them? Understandably, but we wouldn't advise it. The skin is tough, and the flesh is minimal, so they just don't taste as good as their full-sized counterparts. Cooking them would be a lot of work for little to no reward.

While gourds and squash belong to the same botanical family (Cucurbitaceae), they grow from different species. ("Pumpkin" is a colloquial term, not a botanical one, and pumpkins are, in fact, really just a type of squash.) So what exactly is a gourd? A gourd has a hard shell and has been used for decoration, storage, and utility for centuries. Ancient Egyptians even used gourds as water bottles some 4,000 years ago. Technically, calling a mini pumpkin a "decorative gourd" is redundant — it's just a gourd.

When it comes to whether gourds are edible or only decorative, they're edible, but you'd be hard-pressed to enjoy them. Yes, a stuffed mini-pumpkin is adorable and perfectly portioned in concept, but you'd need to keep two things in mind: use pulp from a full-size pumpkin for actual flavor and stuff the mini pumpkins before they're fully ripe. The more mature a gourd gets, the harder its skin and the more bitter its taste.

Struggling with how to cut even the hardest squash is a yearly occurrence, so thick skin might not be a deterrent for you. You can microwave your squash or gourd to soften it up before cutting. If you do end up cutting open your gourds, save the seeds, dry them, and plant them the following spring so you can have your own. (My mom and I did this with mini pumpkins, and it's really cool.)

To separate pumpkin seeds from pulp more easily, scoop out the flesh — seeds included — and put it in a bowl of water. Swish your hands around to loosen the seeds from the pulp and watch the seeds float to the surface. You can do the same thing with other kinds of gourds and squash.

With so many squash varieties available this time of year, it can be overwhelming when deciding what to buy. Remember that squash can be decorative, too, since it can last a long time off the vine. Check out our casual guide to grocery store squash so you know what you're getting and can make the most of your fall harvest — and décor.