All About Kürbisse

You too may be suffering from the post-Halloween blues. If you're a kid and went trick-or-treating, you've probably eaten about ten times your usual allowed amount of candy. If you're a grown-up like myself, you may have had half of a big bag of candy left over from the few trick-or-treaters brave enough to pass by the scary pumpkin on the doorstep. My problem is that I can't just leave candy lying around, I have to eat it. Either way, too much sugar can make you feel pretty down later on—your body's way of telling you that eating that much sugar just can't be very good for you.

By now, if you still have a carved pumpkin sitting outside, it's probably starting to sag and look even scarier than it did when it was fresh. You probably wouldn't want to eat it after it's been sitting out for a couple of days, but if you saved some of the inside bits (not the seeds and slimy stringy bits!), you can make some very tasty meals and desserts out of it. Let's talk today about pumpkins in German!

Kinder höhlen Kürbisse aus und feiern Halloween-Partys.

Children hollow out pumpkins and celebrate at Halloween parties.

Caption 15, Cettina erklärt: Halloween

 Play Caption

Weil Halloween ohne Kürbisse kein Halloween ist, oder?

Because Halloween isn't Halloween without pumpkins, right?

Caption 20, Nicos Weg: Feste und Feiertage

 Play Caption

Es entstand die Tradition, zum Totenfest Laternen aus Rüben zu schnitzen. Daraus hat sich nach und nach die Tradition entwickelt, Kürbisköpfe auszuhöhlen und sie in hässliche Fratzen zu verwandeln.

The tradition emerged of carving lanterns out of turnips for the festival of the dead. Out of that, the tradition gradually developed of hollowing out pumpkin heads and and transforming them into ugly faces.

Captions 28-30, Cettina erklärt: Halloween

 Play Caption

From der Kürbis, we get der Kürbiskopf. It's a good thing we don't still carve out hard turnips for Halloween, especially since we might have to eat something made of turnips later! Speaking of food:

Wir haben damals im Herbst immer ganz viele Gerichte aus Kürbissen gemacht, zum Beispiel Kürbissuppe, Kürbiskuchen, Kürbismarmelade, Kürbismuffins, Kürbisbrot...

We always used to make a ton of dishes from pumpkins in autumn — for example, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin jam, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread...

Captions 22-24, Nicos Weg: Feste und Feiertage

 Play Caption

Die Kürbissuppe, der Kürbiskuchen, der Kürbismuffin and das Kürbisbrot all sound delicious, but die Kürbismarmelade?  Sorry, but pumpkin marmalade just sounds weird!

Ich finde Kürbis total lecker.

I think pumpkin is totally delicious.

Caption 80, Sallys Tortenwelt und Kochwelt: Kürbissuppe

 Play Caption

Und deswegen gibt's heute eine leckere Kürbissuppe.

And that's why there's a delicious pumpkin soup today.

Caption 3, Sallys Tortenwelt und Kochwelt: Kürbissuppe

 Play Caption

Ich gebe immer gern noch ein bisschen von diesem Kürbiskernöl mit rein.

I always like to put a little bit of this pumpkin seed oil in with it.

Caption 67, Sallys Tortenwelt und Kochwelt: Kürbissuppe

 Play Caption

The Austrians are particularly proud of their fine pumpkin seed oil (das Kürbiskernöl), and for very good reason: A little drizzle over a salad or into a soup can work wonders. If you've never tried it, trust me: it's delicious, practically magical. Speaking of magic:

Aber mit einem Wink ihres Zauberstabs verwandelte die Fee den Kürbis in eine goldene Kutsche.

But with a wave of her magic wand the Fairy transformed the pumpkin into a golden carriage.

Captions 44-45, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Aschenputtel

 Play Caption

Of course, the pumpkin plays a major role in the tale of Cinderella too. This is the origin of the phrase "to turn into a pumpkin," which is something people say when it's getting late, and they are either getting tired or they're going to miss their curfew getting home on time.

Further Learning
Read the Yabla German lesson Halloween in Deutschland and watch some of the videos above in their entirety to get your head around pumpkins in German. Just be careful not to turn into one!