Carrots, pumpkin add to healthy life

We have always known that orange foods were good for us. Our mothers told us to eat our carrots — they would make our eyes sharper.

It’s true: The compounds that give many fruits and vegetables their orange, red or yellow color — known as carotenoids, named after carrots — are precursors of vitamin A, which is essential for normal growth and development, immune system function and vision. The addition of vitamin A precursors to some strains of rice has dramatically cut infant mortality and blindness in Asian countries where diets were very low in vitamin A.

One carotenoid you’ve likely heard of is beta-carotene, which is famously found in carrots. It’s also in spinach, peaches, apricots and sweet potatoes. Other vitamin A precursor carotenoids include alpha-carotene (found in carrots, pumpkin, and red and yellow peppers) and cryptoxanthin (found in oranges, tangerines, peaches, nectarines and papayas). Lycopene, the carotenoid that gives tomatoes their red color, is particularly effective at quenching the destructive potential of singlet oxygen.

In addition to what they do for our bodies, carotenoids are also essential for the survival and productivity of all photosynthetic organisms.

Photosynthesis, you may recall from biology class, is how plants use the energy from sunlight to join together carbon dioxide and water to make glucose. They then pack this glucose together and store it in the form of starch. It is this plant-produced starch that provides food for all animals.

We associate photosynthesis with green chlorophyll. I had no idea that orange, red and yellow carotenoids had anything to do with it. They perform two major functions in plants. They are accessory light-harvesting pigments (in the red, yellow, and orange range), extending the range of wavelengths over which light can drive photosynthesis, and they protect the chlorophyll pigments from the harmful photodestructive reaction, which occurs in the presence of oxygen.

These red, yellow and orange carotenoids are in plant leaves all the time. They are not visible to us in the spring and summer because the color of the green chlorophyll hides them. But in the fall, when the temperature becomes cold enough to kill the chlorophyll, then we see the bright yellow, orange and red colors of the leaves. These carotenoids were there all the time — just hidden by the green chlorophyll.

So, at this time of year, when all manner of green things change color, what better way is there to honor carotenoids than with a recipe for the great pumpkin, a deep orange roasted squash filled with herbed barley, beans and chickpeas?

This magnificent browned pumpkin filled with the most intriguing aromas will show up even a huge roasted-to-perfection turkey. A small- to medium-size pumpkin is ideal for this dish. You can also use the small sugar pumpkins, which are very sweet and have a thicker flesh. Simply use two of them instead of one medium jack-o’-lantern type of pumpkin.

Orange carotenoid-containing fruits and vegetables retain their color and nutrients well during cooking. Juices from the pumpkin add sweet complex flavors to the grain and bean filling.

The great pumpkin

(A deep orange pumpkin roasted with herbed barley, beans and chickpeas)

Makes about 12 servings

1 fresh pumpkin, about 10 inches in diameter (see notes)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 large onions, chopped

4 tablespoons sesame oil (see notes)

3 cups quick-cooking barley

2 cans chicken stock or canned chicken broth

3 cups water

2 16-ounce cans chickpeas, drained

2 16-ounce cans navy beans, drained

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/2 cup orange marmalade

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1 to 2 tablespoons Chinese hot chili oil

Large green leaves, for garnish

Cut the top from the pumpkin slightly lower than for a jack-o’-lantern and save. Scoop out and discard the seeds. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook the garlic and onions in sesame oil in a large skillet over low to medium heat until the onions are just clear, not brown. Cook the barley in the chicken stock and water for 10 minutes at a low simmer in a large covered saucepan.

Stir together the onion mixture, barley, chickpeas, navy beans, oregano, basil, rosemary, orange marmalade, brown sugar, parsley, soy sauce, salt, pepper and hot chili oil in a large mixing bowl. Spoon the mixture into the pumpkin and fit the lid back in place. Place on a small pizza pan in the lower center of the oven and bake for 1 hour. The pumpkin should be well browned.

Serve the pumpkin surrounded by large green leaves. Remove the lid and lean it against the side of the pumpkin. Cut around the top edge and serve a small piece of the pumpkin with the filling.

Notes:

• If a pumpkin is not available, use another large squash, such as spaghetti squash, turban squash, etc.

• Sesame oil should not be heated to high temperatures and ordinarily is used in small quantities as an added flavoring. The temperature is kept low here to avoid damage to the oil.

• Food scientist Shirley O. Corriher is author of “CookWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking” (William Morrow).