SC - Mushrooms!

[Lasairina@aol.com]

>I have been told and read that all the squash we commonly eat is New
>World.  I, too, would like to know what the 'guord' referred to in
>various recipes is.
>
>Clarissa

>From the Miscellany:


Pumpkin, Squash, Gourd

It seems to be well established that at least three of the four cultivated
species of Cucurbita (C. pepo, C. moschata and C. maxima) existed in the
New World long before Columbus; the fourth (C. ficifolia) is "ordinarily
not thought of as a cultivated plant" (Whittaker), but apparently has been
cultivated in the past. Whitaker argues, on the evidence of the absence of
these species in the fifteenth century European herbals and their presence
in the sixteenth century ones, that they were introduced into Europe from
the New World. A variety of C. pepo similar to the squash now known as
"Small Sugar" is illustrated in an herbal of 1542. What appears to be a
field pumpkin is illustrated in 1560, with other varieties appearing in
later herbals during the century. Whitaker concludes that "none of the
cultivated species of Cucurbita were known to the botanists of the Western
world before 1492." If so, all varieties of pumpkins, squash, and vegetable
marrows are inappropriate before 1492; some were known in the sixteenth
century, but may or may not have been sufficiently common to be used in
feasts.

There is, however, a plant translated as "gourd" in both Italian and
Islamic cookbooks before 1492. The Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti,
which is 14th century, shows a "Cucurbite" that looks exactly like a green
butternut squash-a fact of which Whitaker seems unaware when asserting the
absence of all varieties of Cucurbita from pre-sixteenth century sources.
It seems likely, however, that his conclusion was correct, and that what is
shown in the picture and used in the recipes is not C. pepo but Lagenaria
sicereia.

"The white-flowered gourd, Lagenaria sicereia," seems to "have been common
to both Old and New Worlds" (Whitaker). I am told that the Italian Edible
Gourd is a species of Lagenaria and available from, among others, J.L.
Hudson, Seedman (P.O.Box 1058, Redwood City, CA 94064). Simoons describes a
Lagenaria still used in modern Chinese cooking. We have obtained what we
think is the right gourd from a Chinese grocery store and used it in period
recipes with satisfactory results. The taste and texture are somewhat
similar to zucchini but less bitter.  The Chinese, or perhaps Vietnamese,
name for one variety, which the grower assured us had white flowers, is
"opo."


David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/