SC - Pumpkins and such...

[KallipygosRed@aol.com]

There are many varieties of period pumpkins (i.e., gourds) still available 
today:

Italian Edible Gourds, Loofa Sponges, Bushel Basket Gourds and Birdhouse 
Gourds 
immediately come to mind. Of these, the bushel basket gourd comes the closest 
to looking like what we know as a 'pumpkin' today. Most period recipes using 
gourds are savory rather than sweet. So far as size is concerned, manuscript 
pictures showing bird house gourds appear to show them no different from 
today. There has been a real effort in modern horticulture to reduce the size 
of many standard varieties so there really is no basis to believe that period 
fruits and vegetables where smaller than now although it is true that some 
were. For the most part, they had large and small varieties of things just as 
we do. Curiously, Jane Grigson mentions that in the 17th century 126 
varieties of vegetables were listed in seed catalogs while today there are a 
third of that number available. This is clearly a case of modern is not 
better and an example of one of the vast differences with living in an 
agricultural society as opposed to an industrial one.

Ras
The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.- Solomon Ibn Gabirol