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With Halloween right around the corner and Thanksgiving pie season close on its heels, we asked a UNH expert to drop some knowledge about pumpkins. Chris Hernandez, assistant professor of plant breeding, researches cucurbits, which are "any sort of vining crop, like cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, squash 鈥撎齮hose are all in the cucurbit family." He offers some tips for picking the best variety for a听jack-o'-lantern and sheds some light on what makes the best pumpkin pie听鈥� the latter of which might surprise you.

UNH has long been a leader in the cucurbit space.听Cucurbit breeding was launched at UNH by A.F. Yeager and Elwyn Meader in the 1940s, beginning what is now the longest continuous squash and pumpkin breeding program in North America.听Hernandez is continuing the long-standing work of Brent Loy, professor emeritus, whose research resulted in more than 100 new varieties of squash, pumpkins, gourds and melons sold in seed catalogs around the world. Loy is responsible for more than 50 exclusive licenses held by UNH. Royalties have generated more than $2 million for the university since the commercialization of these varieties began.

In spring 2023,Hernandez received $50,000 from the听听Fund to support the expansion of commercialization opportunities for UNH鈥檚 cucurbit breeding program. Hernandez,听a researcher with the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station,听is aiming听to develop new varieties of squash, pumpkins and melons that have improved characteristics, such as increased market yield, disease resistance and nutritional quality.听In addition, he is aiming to collect听genetic data on key UNH breeding lines using DNA sequencing at UNH鈥檚 Hubbard Center for Genome Studies to preserve a vast collection of seeds and historical genetic information. He hopes to ultimately make breeding lines available for license to farmers in New Hampshire and worldwide.