Tips For Picking The Perfect Pumpkin This Season
HILLSBOROUGH, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – With Halloween just weeks away, candy, costumes and pumpkins are popping up all over the place.
But how do you know if you've picked the perfect pumpkin? CBS2's Cindy Hsu visited Norz Hill Farm in New Jersey to find out.
"This one's not watery and it's not that dirty, so I picked it," one little girl said.
There are more than 60 varieties to choose from in all sorts of colors and sizes, and they're all edible.
Two-year-old Abigail wanted the perfect one. Hsu also met a 2-month-old baby in the pumpkin patch.
"It's her first experience on the hayride and pumpkins, and she's sleeping through it," mom Stephanie Dale said.
There are thousands of pumpkins at Norz Hill Farm and all sorts of strategies to picking the best one. Debbie Norz is the pro.
"Just look and feel it and make sure that there's no soft spots. You got a nice good stem, and you're ready to go," she said.
"Well, the secret is to go all the way to the back of the farm where no one's going. So the best are back there," teacher Karen Cocoran added.
To help your pumpkin last, keep it in a cool spot.
"If you are going to carve it, I suggest waiting until about three days before Halloween," Norz said. "If you're going to put it outside on your porch – and to protect the carvings – you want to put petroleum jelly all over where you carved it, so that it helps it so it doesn't start to cave in."
