In rural gardens around the globe, squash is typically planted among other crops, particularly corn, and the vines are allowed to scramble over poles, fences, walls, and other nearby structures. The plants like fertile aerated soil that drains well and lots of space, water, and sunshine. Extremes in temperature or high humidity increase vulnerability to disease. During wet weather, placing a stone or fibrous mat under a fruit lying on the ground prevents the fruit from rotting.
The immature and mature fruits, seeds, flowers, buds, and tender shoot tips and leaves of all of the domesticated squashes can be and have been eaten. Harvest of the one - to seven-day-old fruits of the summer squashes begins seven to eight weeks after planting and continues throughout the growing season. Pumpkin and winter squash fruits take three to four months to mature and are harvested only once, usually along with or later than other field crops. The best seeds are taken from the oldest fruits. Once flowering begins, open male blossoms can be collected almost daily. Leaves and growing tips are picked when needed, but only from healthy, vigorous plants.
Even though immature squashes can be eaten raw, usually they are boiled first and then seasoned to taste. In various cultures, the fresh fruits are sliced, battered, and fried; stuffed with cooked meat and vegetables; boiled and then mashed like potatoes; or added to curries or soups. The Sioux of the Northern Plains sliced fresh four-day-old fruits of C. pepo, skewered the slices on willow spits, and placed the spits on open wooden stages for drying. In Mexico and Bolivia, young fruits and seeds of C. ficifolia are sometimes blended into a mildly sweetened, alcoholic beverage made from corn mush.
The precursor of the colonial pumpkin pie was a mature pumpkin, probably C. pepo, filled with fruit, sugar, spices, and milk. Seeds were removed and ingredients added through a hole cut in the top of the pumpkin. The stuffed fruit was then baked among the coals of an open fire. In a simpler version of this recipe, prepared by aborigines as well as settlers, the fruits were baked first and then sliced and garnished with animal fat and/or honey or syrup. Pumpkin pudding, pancakes, bread, butter, dried chips, and beer have long histories rooted in colonial New England.
In other countries, mature pumpkins and winter squashes are stewed or steamed as vegetables, added to soups, candied, or stored whole or in slices for later use. A presumably ancient aboriginal use of mature fruits of C. ficifolia is in making various types of candy. Chunks of flesh are boiled with the seeds in alkali and then saturated with liquid sugar. In Indonesia, the local inhabitants create a delicacy by adding grated coconut to the boiled flesh of C. moschata. Of course, the most popular nonfood usage of pumpkin fruits (usually C. pepo or C. maxima') is for carving jack-o’-lanterns, a nineteenth-century tradition from Ireland and Great Britain.
Although the fruits of all domesticated squashes can be prepared similarly, there are culinary differences among the species with respect to the flavor, consistency, and appearance of the edible flesh. Cucurbita moschata and C. maxima produce the strongest tasting (mildly sweet and somewhat musky) and deepest colored mature fruits; consequently, these species are favored for canning. Because fruits of C. maxima are also the richest in vitamins and finest in texture, they are mashed into baby food. Among the squashes, flesh quality in C. maxima generally holds up best when dehydrated and then reconstituted. The elongated fruits of summer squashes make C. pepo the foremost producer of easy-to-slice young fruits. Although this species dominates the commercial market, the fuller flavor of the immature pepos of C. moschata make C. moschata the preferred vegetable in rural China, the Canary Islands, and Central America.
Landraces of C. argyrosperma yield the largest edible seeds in a fruit that is otherwise unremarkable. Mature fruits of C. ficifolia are the most bland and fibrous of all squashes. However, they store longer than the fruits of the other species (two to three years versus one year) and sweeten with age. The flesh contains a proteolytic enzyme that may be of future commercial value to the food industry. Because of the stringiness of the flesh of C. ficifolia, a special Aztec confection called “.Angel’s Hair” can be prepared from the boiled flesh fibers. Comparable texture in the C. pepo cultivar Vegetable Spaghetti’ allows preparation of the baked or boiled fibrous flesh into a dish resembling the namesake pasta.
For commercial canning, growers have selected high-yielding cultivars like ‘Kentucky Field’ that have mature fruit flesh of the proper color and consistency. Flavor is less important as it can be controlled with spices. Consistency, which refers to the stiffness or relative viscosity of the processed flesh, is enhanced by using fruits that are barely ripe and by adding the product of a high-consistency cultivar to that of a low-consistency cultivar. Starch, as well as soluble solids, greatly influences consistency. Because fruit storage results in the loss of carbohydrates and in the conversion of starch to sugars, freshly harvested fruits are preferred for the canning process.
Squash seeds, which have a nutty flavor, are eaten worldwide. They are consumed raw, boiled, or roasted, usually with the testa or shell removed. Mexicans grind the roasted shelled seeds into a meal, which is used to make special sauces. In China and India as well as in the New World, rural peoples make pastries from the seeds, often by covering them with syrup and then baking the mass into a type of peanut brittle. Some Chinese cultivars of C. moschata and C. maxima are grown specifically for their seeds. Similarly, various lan-draces of C. argyrosperma contribute heavily to the commercial production of edible seeds in Mexico.
A “naked seed” cultivar of C. pepo, called Lady Godiva, produces a seed lacking a testa. These hull-less seeds are popular snacks in the United States. In addition to food, New World aborigines have used squash seeds for a variety of medicinal purposes. A decoction serves as a diuretic and an antipyretic, the seed oil is applied to persistent ulcers, and the seeds are eaten to expel gastrointestinal parasites. Although rural communities use the seed oil for cooking as well as for medicine, the possibility of commercial extraction of the edible unsaturated oil has yet to be explored.
Aboriginal Americans, including the Aztecs, have a long tradition of eating male squash flowers and floral buds. The large orange blossoms lend seasoning and color to stews, soups, and salads and can be stuffed or battered and fried. Young leaves and shoots, which have relatively low concentrations of the bitter cucurbitacins, are also important potherbs in Mexican cooking. In India, squash leaves and growing tips are eaten as salad greens or added to vegetable curries. Nineteenth-century Indonesians prepared a dish in which fish and young leaves of C. moschata were wrapped in banana leaves and roasted under live coals.
World History
