# Why is my pumpkin turning green? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-pumpkin-turning-green/44976 "2000-12-11T05:24:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-pumpkin-turning-green/44976/1 "2000-12-11T05:24:47Z")
I bought a pumpkin and painted it for Halloween. I planned to make pie out of it for Thanksgiving but by then it had started to turn green. So I bought canned pumpkin and kept the painted one to see what it would do and it has slowly been getting greener. It is now about 1/3 green. Can anyone explain what is going on here? ---
**Author:** ![What\_fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f475e1/32.png) [@What\_fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_fire)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-pumpkin-turning-green/44976/2 "2000-12-11T06:07:08Z")
Colors can shift on fruit, just as they do on maple leaves, as the colored sugars move from one place to another with the juices as it dries or gets damp. Sunlight is a factor in green, as fruit can create chlorophyll, the same as leaves. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-pumpkin-turning-green/44976/3 "2000-12-11T07:54:57Z")
I’m guessing that green skins are a rarity on pumkins in the US. Here, Queensland Blue (bluey-grey skin) and Jap pumpkin (dark green with lighter green speckles) would be found in any grocery store alongside the butternuts (pale orange skin). It’s only over the last few years that I’ve started seeing more varieties of pumpkin widely available here…but then we treat pumpkin primarily as a vegetable (except for Queenslanders who seem to have this thing about pumpkin scones and pumpkin pie…), so what would we know? ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-pumpkin-turning-green/44976/4 "2000-12-11T09:07:00Z")
pumpkin scones are revolting. I never will forget the mashed pumpkin in the hospital cafetaria either. That was evil, man! Legacy of the Bjelke Petersen years, I guess…