[Sca-cooks] period mashed turnips

[Decker, Terry D.]

All of the squashes are available in North America.  If you are asking which
would have been eaten in 16th Century Europe.  The answer is very likely
members of Cucurbita pepo.  The butternut squash Olwen suggests is of
MesoAmerican origin, but it is very likely a latecomer to the Old World.
Also, the butternut squash as we know it is C. moschata duchesne.  That
Duchesne bit is very important as Antoine N. Duchesne is the gentleman who
developed the modern strawberry and the modern butternut squash in the 18th
Century.

C. pepo includes pumpkins, zucchini, crookneck squash, straightneck squash
and acorn squash.  Zucchini is green and shaped like a cucumber.
Straightneck is something like a zucchini, but yellow.  Crookneck is yellow
with one bulbous end tapering to a curved neck at the other.  Acorn is
usually green with orange highlights, wide ribs and shaped something like an
acorn.  Pumpkins are something else, roughly round and ribbed.  The most
common varieties are orange and the one that is probably closest to the
period varieties is a Sweet Sugar.

If you look at the squash site Olwen sent.  The buttercup squash and, even
moreso, the Table King winter squash are very similar to squash which appear
in Vincente Campi's the Fruit Seller.

Bear


> >Also, on the topic of gourds and squash: can someone tell me a) what
> >sort of squash (readily available in North America) is considered the
> >best substitute for gourds in period recipes, and b) what it
> looks like
> >externally, since the grocers seem to just pile the squash
> up in a big
> >unlabelled heap.
> >
> >Yours,
> >
> >Katherine
> >
> For the fried gourd recipe we use butternut squash.
> http://dansgardenshop.com/gardenshop/falandwinsqu.html
> For some reason my computer pasted the same eddress both times.
> Olwen
>