THE GREAT PUMPKIN
How to pick and preserve a pumpkin, including seeds and Mother's all-time favorite pumpkin pie recipe.
 |
FROM TOP : A field full of fall's flavored food. . . . A wonderfully easy, old-timey way to dry pumpkin. (PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR)
|
O, it sets my heart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,When
the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.
(James Whitcomb Riley)
RELATED ARTICLES
LADY GODIVA RIDES AGAIN! January/February 1979 by Richard D. Reed It's a policy around our place to...
Glowing, gruesome or giggly, carved pumpkins are a ubiquitous symbol of autumn, the end of harvest ...
Try this recipe for stuffed pumpkin in lieu of turkey for a vegetarian Thanksgiving — or simply add...
Winter squash or pumpkin can be canned or follow the recipe for yeasted pumpkin bread, pumpkin but...
by Jack McQuarrie
When most of us think of pumpkins, we tend to limit our
conjuring to visions of spicy pies and eerily glimmering
jack-o'-lanterns. Actually, though, the bright round gourds
have served a number of additional purposes —
gastronomic and otherwise — since . . . well, since
before recorded history.
In fact, archaeologists have found the remains of pumpkins
among the relics left by ancient cliff dwellers. And when
Europeans first arrived on these shores, they were quick to
learn — from native Americans — to plant the
distinctive squash between hills of corn . . . discovering
that their sprawling vines served as a living mulch and
helped keep the maize fields free of weeds. The early
settlers apparently developed "orange thumbs" in this
regard, too . . . because Samuel Eliot Morison (an expert
on the period) writes, in his book The Story of the
"Old Colony" of New Plymouth , that the pumpkins
harvested prior to that first Thanksgiving were piled "in
great golden heaps alongside the houses".
Of course, back in those days folks were wise enough to
make an effort to get the maximum use out of
everything they had . . . and the lowly pumpkin
was no exception. Some accounts actually report that early
New England barbers — when they couldn't find a cap
or bowl for the purpose — simply hollowed out a small
pumpkin shell and fit it over the hair of a customer as a
make-do shearing guide (hence the expression "pumpkin
head").
And, as you'd imagine, pioneer cooks used the vegetables
extensively: They dried the gourds and ground them into
flour . . . they baked or steamed the shells and —
after pressing the cooked pulp through a sieve and adding
sweetening and spices — put up jars of pumpkin butter
. . . and they prepared puddings and soups and wines and
dozens of other dishes from the squash, as well. (In 1672,
author John Josselyn reported in his journal, New
England Rarities Discovered , that stewed
pumpkin makes a nice accompaniment to "fish or flesh" but
observed that the vegetable "provokes urine extremely and
is very windy".)
Page: 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Next >>