SC - Pumpkins and such...

[Jenne Heise]

> You can find edible gourds, which are close to or the same as period 
> "pumpins", in Asian food markets, where i often find tender loofa 
> gourds, whose flesh is pale green.

I'm assuming that you ar claiming that the mature white-flowered guourds
have pale green flesh? I mean the large ones that would have been referred
to as pompions, rather than the young ones?
 
> Galangal is common in Thai and Indonesian cooking and never used in 
> anything sweet.

Galangal and many of the other spices, however, were used in period
'sweet' as well as savory dishes. I find that long pepper in particular is
very good in 'sweetish' dishes such as Black Grape Sauce.

> inappropriate. Try a more "period" "pumpkin", which won't be orange 
> or yellow, if your recipe is pre-1601.
> 

There is a pre-1600 painting (goodnoess knows where my notes are) hanging
in the National Gallery in DC, which was painted in Europe and depicts a
number of fruits and vegetables, including a  pumpkin (North American
Type) with a slice cut out of it), I believe.

Everyone points ot htese tiny unripe green gourds as the period pompions,
but I still wonder about Strabo's bushel-basket size pompions.

- -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
"I do my job. I refuse to be responsible for other people's managerial 
hallucinations." -- Lady Jemina Starker