Consolidation in Organic Agriculture - CCOF

FOCUS ON FOODAs American as Winter SquashBy Lisa M. Hamilton“We have pumpkin at morning, and pumpkin at noon.If it were not for the pumpkin, we would be undoon.”Anonymous poem, c. 1630IN THEIR BOOK V EGETABLES,Delphine and Diane Hirasunasuggest that the saying should be“As American as pumpkin pie,” not apple.They argue that not only are the fruitsnative, unlike Asian apples, but they were“almost singularly responsible for keepingthe Pilgrims alive during the long harshwinter after their crops failed.”If anyone tried it, though, the wintersquashes would lobby like crazy against it.Partly out of jealousy—hearty wintersquash has long played the ugly stepsisterto smooth-skinned but culinarily inferiorpumpkins. But they would also have apoint: most likely it was not pumpkinsthat sustained the colonists, but sturdyBoston Marrows or Turban squashes. Afterdecades of confusion, the plants deservesome credit.NutritionNow, all hard-shelled squash belong tothe Cucurbitae family, along with cucumbers,melon, and summer squash. Cucumberscome from wet central Asia, melonsfrom the accompanying deserts, but all thesquash-like things (pumpkins, squashes,gourds) are native to the Americas. Andwhile the majority of North Americantribes grew some sort of Cucurbit, that’swhere the generalization ends.When Columbus arrived in 1492, theCucurbits were isolated from one another.Growing from north of Mexico Citythrough the American Southwest and Eastwas C. pepo: a group of watery fruits thatinclude most summer squashes, gourds,acorns, and what we know as pumpkins.C. moschata, whose most famous memberis the Butternut, was the only type tobridge the continents, growing from Arizonato northern South America. (In the20th century, botanists extracted fromPUMPKIN PIE IS GOOD FOR YOU? Well, at least the pumpkin part is. Winter squash is anexcellent source of complex carbohydrates, potassium, and B-complex vitamins.It is an exceptional source of carotenes (the darker the flesh, the more there are),which makes it a powerful agent against cancer, particularly that of the lungs. (Andbecause carotenes require fat for digestion, go ahead and put an egg in the pie.) Theflesh is considered to have a warming thermal nature and a particular influence on thespleen and stomach. Because it is also anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing, freshsquash juice can help heal a burn.And that’s just the outside. The seeds alone are loaded with protein, zinc, andomega-3 essential fatty acids. Due to the latter two, naturopaths and Chinese medicinepractitioners prescribe a tea or blended broth of the seeds to fight prostate disorders,motion sickness, nausea, and impotency. The seeds have also been used by a range oftraditional doctors to treat intestinal parasites; the prescribed dosage a handful ofseeds twice daily for three weeks. (The omega-3s are lost in roasting, so try shellingthem and eating them raw.)C. moschata the distinct group C. mixta,squashes with particularly corky peduncles,such as the Pueblo Indians’ Green-stripedCushaw.) Meanwhile, far down south innorthern Argentina and valleys of theAndes grew C. maxima, progenitor to heftysquashes like Hubbard and Delicious.The North American varieties traveledwith humans and by planting themselves,adapting to the climate as they went. Forinstance, in the northeast C. pepo becamesummer squash, while in native Mexico itproduced the first of our modern pumpkins.But while C. maxima was separatedby thousands of miles—its travel northcompletely reliant on humans—it wasmost likely the squash the Pilgrims livedon. If so, it would make sense: hailingfrom a cold, short-summer climate, theywould do well in cold, short-summer NewEngland.At that point all hard-shelled, storablesquash were called pumpkins. Earlyexplorers had thought squash were badversions of muskmelon, the only Cucurbitthey knew, so they named them pepon—Greek for “large melon.” This transformedinto the French, pompon and then pumpion,which means “cooked by the sun,” or ripe.This would indicate all the hard-shelledsquashes (pumpkins, et al.) as distinctfrom the summer squashes, which are harvestedimmature. (Their name comes fromthe Algonquin word askootasquash —“eaten raw.”)British colonists changed the name topumpkin, a word more easily pronouncedin English. For a long time it meant exactlyPage 16CCOF Magazine