By Kat Leslie | Warwick Valley Dispatch, Halloween Edition
Every October, Warwick transforms into the postcard capital of fall — red barns glowing in the sunlight, leaves turning, and happy u-pickers searching for the best and sweetest apples. The town looks like a Norman Rockwell painting collided with a cider doughnut—pumpkins on porches, hay bales stacked high, and cars snaking up and down Warwick Mountain stacked high with apples and pumpkins from Masker Orchards, the biggest apple orchard in Warwick.
And while most of us are busy deciding whether our pumpkins should become pie, porch décor, or just a great looking photogenic drop next to the plaid shirt, science is quietly waving a hand to remind us: the pumpkin is actually a fruit.
Yes, a fruit. Not a vegetable. Not a squashy enigma. A bonafide, seed-bearing fruit, just like apples — and no one in the Hudson Valley knows their fruits better than Masker’s. The farmers of Warwick, it turns out, have been on the right side of botany all along
The Great Fruit-Vegetable Identity Crisis
According to actual scientists (not just your aunt who swears by pumpkin spice creamer), anything that starts as a flower and contains seeds is a fruit. Which means, by definition, pumpkins are cousins with tomatoes, cucumbers, and—brace yourself—green peppers.
So, when you’re picking pumpkins, sipping cider, and debating whether candy corn qualifies as food, remember: that jack-o’-lantern on your porch? It’s technically a fruit bowl.
So the next time someone scoffs at pumpkin pie being served alongside apple pie, just remind them: they’re from the same family tree.
(And then pass the whipped cream. It’s science.)
But it’s easy to see why people get confused. It comes from how we eat them. Tomatoes show up in salads, not desserts. Zucchini is sautéed, not sprinkled with sugar. And pumpkins? They’re a bit of both — just as comfortable in a stew as they are in a pie. Yet we don’t eat pumpkins like fruit. We roast them, stew them, puree them into lattes. We carve them into faces and light them from the inside like tiny gourds of eternal judgment. And somewhere between “Jack-o’-Lantern” and “Thanksgiving dessert,” the poor pumpkin lost its fruity identity.
Local Pumpkins, Real Fruit
But science meets tradition in the fields of Masker Orchards, Warwick’s 100-plus-year-old family farm, where you can literally drive to the tree—or the patch—and pick your own fruits straight from either branch or vine. Each one starts as a golden blossom, pollinated by the busiest bees in Orange County, who should really be paid overtime in cider doughnuts.
From there, those flowers swell into the round orange, red, green and yellow fruits that fill our car trunks and social media feeds every fall. It’s botany in motion, right here on the mountain.
“Technically, you’re harvesting fruit,” Masker’s owner Mike Martucci joked recently while loading up a wagon full of pumpkins, “but try telling my kids they’re eating fruit when I sneak it into soup.”
The Pumpkin’s Family Tree (and Your Dinner Plate)
Sure, calling a pumpkin a fruit might not change your carving skills or your grandma’s pie recipe—but it’s a fun reminder that nature doesn’t care about our grocery store categories. If pumpkinfruit revelation feels strange, wait until you meet the rest of the impostors at your dinner table:
- Zucchini – stealthy green fruit pretending to be a vegetable.
- Cucumbers – salad fruit.
- Peppers – spicy fruit.
- Corn – fruit that went to engineering school.
Basically, your fridge is a fruit basket in disguise. And yes, pumpkins are technically fruit. But around here, they’re something more — a symbol of harvest, home, and the sweet spot where science meets tradition.
At Masker Orchards, that tradition is alive and well, in every pie, every pumpkin, and every family photo taken among the trees. It’s a point of pride. Every bright orange pumpkin is the result of sunshine, bees, and Warwick soil. It’s science, it’s history, it’s community—and it’s delicious, however you slice it. Whether you come for the science, the snacks, or just the cider doughnuts, one thing’s certain — you’ll leave with a trunk full of fruit and a heart full of fall.
Before you race off to tell your friends that pumpkins are fruit (and watch them question everything they’ve ever learned about pie), here’s another juicy fact worth knowing — Masker Orchards is rolling out a bushel of fall specials this weekend, October 25-26 :
BOGO Apple Picking for the Early Birds
If you need another reason to visit Warwick and go apple picking this weekend, the first 300 customers at Masker’s will receive a BOGO voucher on apples. Buy one bag, get another free — which, in scientific terms, means twice the pie potential. It’s fall math everyone can agree on.
From the Flower to the Pie Tin
Pumpkins and apples follow the same magic formula: seed → flower → fruit → dessert. Masker’s team tends to both with a century-old know-how that turns local produce into pure Hudson Valley legend.
In fact, Masker’s apple pie has just been crowned the “Best Apple Pie in the Hudson Valley.” If awards had smell-o-vision, the scent of cinnamon, butter, and baked apple would be filling every kitchen between Warwick and Brooklyn.
Mini Pies, Mighty Flavor – Now 25% OFF!
This weekend, the six inch apple pies, aka “Junior pie” are 25% off, making it easier than ever to take home a piece of that blue-ribbon flavor. Warm one up, top it with ice cream, and tell your family it’s research for your “fruit studies.”
Fresh Pumpkins Are BOGO
Back on the mountain, the pumpkins are in peak form — round, bright, and ready for their Halloween close-up. This weekend, pumpkins are buy one, get one free, so you can carve one and bake the other without guilt. (That’s what farmers call balanced living.)
The Pumpkin Pie Joins the Family
And because Masker’s never misses a good seasonal twist, they’re introducing the Pumpkin Pie, proud sibling to their award-winning apple hi-top. Available this weekend of October 25-26 only and for Thanksgiving pre-order, it’s creamy, spiced, and perfectly autumn in every bite.
