SC - Pumpkin in Tusser

[Magdalena]

I apologize if this goes out twice.  My computer crashed in the middle.  ;>

david friedman wrote:

> Someone wrote (I'm picking this one up second hand)
>
> >  >Even if it isn't New World pumpkin, are there any European cookbooks
> >  >that actually refer to pumpkin or pompon or pompion?
>
> The OED entry under pompion quotes Tusser, 1570 or so,  as saying (I
> think) that it is boiled or cooked in butter in May. But that doesn't
> sound like pumpkin, given the date, and the West Kingdom contest is
> fall, not spring.

The edition of Tusser I have at home, which is primarily 1557 with some
1571 collated in, has a section of tables at the back called "Of Herbs and
Flowers" which contains the only reference to Pompione (in the book) I could
find.

Herbs and Roots, To Boil or To Butter
1.   Beanes, set in winter.
2.   Cabbeigis, sowe in March, and after remove
3.   Carrets
4.   Cytrons, sowe in May
5.   Gourdes, in May
6.   Nauewes, sowe in June.
7.   Pompione, in May
8.   Parseneps, in winter.
9.   Roncivall pease, set in winter.
10. Rapes, sow in June.
11. Turneps, in March and April.


Given the listing, I believe that the idea is to sow the pumpkin seed in
May, and eat it boiled/buttered when ripe.  Given the climate in England, the
sowing time sounds about right.

BTW, thanks for making me read the book.  ;>  I hadn't realized the
number of recipes contained therein.

- -Magdalena