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Question:

Garden picked pumpkin, good source of protein?

is a home garden picked pumpkin, cooked then turned into pumpkin soup a good source of protein? if so, id like to know how much! ty :)

Answer:

Pumpkins don't contain very much protein, if any. The milk or dairy products you use for the soup will though. Vegetables are not by themselves good strong protein sources--you can combine vegetables to get proteins, but you still need more than what they provide. The highest sources are beans and legumes, combined with grains such as wheat or rice. There is only about 2 grams of protein in a cup of pumpkin puree.
Depends on what sort of protein you need. Vegetable sources of proteins are more limited than animal sources, and of those, beans and other legumes are the best source. Most gourds are not particularly good protein sources, more so for fiber, trace minerals and water-soluble vitamins such as C, B-series, E and A amongst others. And other than for flavor and (perhaps) fewer chemicals, garden vs. commercially grown pumpkins are virtually indistinguishable in nutrition content. One cup of whole pumpkin (a bit more than 8 ounces) will give you 9% of your protein requirements, you would need 11 cups and still be low in some of the essential amino acids. Pumpkin is below 2% protein. Some cheeses are over 50%. Some meats over 40%. Some beans and other vegetable sources will also meet or exceed those numbers - however it is harder (but not impossible) to get all the essential amino acids from vegetable sources alone.

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