Stop Picking Your Pumpkins So Hard: A blog about Halloween traditions.

It's that time of year again. The leaves are changing and the air is crisp. Pumpkins are being picked, carved, 

and displayed in homes across the country. And there's a little trick to picking them that can make all the 

difference in how your pumpkin turns out.

1)The trick is simple: don't pick it too hard.

It seems like most people simply grab their pumpkin and pull as hard as they can until it comes off the vine, 

but this can cause problems for you later on when you're carving or trying to get every last piece of meat out 

of your pumpkin for baking recipes.

Instead, try gently squeezing the pumpkin between your thumb and index finger first (on either side). Move up along 

the vine until you find a spot where it's loose enough to slide off easily. Then gently pull down while keeping pressure 

on top of it with your thumb and index finger, which will help keep it intact as you remove it from the vine completely 

without breaking its stem or pulling off any fruit inside. This way there won't be any cracked shells or broken stems 

left behind after you're done!