SC - Period pumpkin recipes

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

And it came to pass on 1 Mar 00,, that david friedman wrote:

> At 10:34 AM -0500 3/1/00, Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:
> >I've been checking through the Spanish sources, since they seem likely to
> >contain late-period pumpkin recipes.  the trouble is that the Spanish
> >word for pumpkin "calabaza" also refers to various gourds and squashes. 
[snip]
> >Is there anything in the cucurbita family
> >that's large enough to accomodate this assortment, other than a pumpkin?
> 
> Why are you limiting yourself to the cucurbita family--all of whose 
> members are, I think, New World.

::sigh::  That's what comes of relying on my memory, especially when 
I'm feeling fuzzy-headed.  I was mistakenly thinking that all the Old 
World and New World gourds/squashes were different 
varieties of cucurbita.  Thank you for the correction.

> _The Four Seasons of the House of 
> Cerruti_, which predates the discovery of the New World, shows large
> edible gourds, presumably Lageneria Sicereia (sp?). Given how wide the
> range of size is in C. Pepo, I wouldn't be surprised if there were
> lageneria big enough for what you describe, but I don't know.

In looking at the other recipes that I have access to, it's become even 
clearer that the term calabaza is used generically to refer to that 
category of vegetable.  Some of the recipes do specify that the 
calabaza should be large or small or tender, according to the 
requirements of that particular dish.  The recipe for Torta de Calabazas 
says that one can cook all varieties of calabaza in this manner.  So I 
reluctantly conclude that there is no way for me to know which (if any) 
of the calabaza recipes refer to pumpkin, or a pumpkin-like gourd.


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net