[Sca-cooks] Winter Squash

[david friedman]

>Pumpkin was used prior to 1492 to refer to gourds of genus Lagenaria,
>probably some of the basket gourds similar in size to the New World pumpkin.
>
>New World squash appear in Leonard Fuchs Herbal of 1543 and they were
>probably in use in Europe even earlier.  Late 16th Century Italian paintings
>show a number of different New World squash so they were probably readily
>available by then.
>
>Bear

We may have been through this before--I'm not sure--but how can you 
tell they are New World (presumably C. Pepo) rather than Lagenaria? 
Do the paintings show the color of the blossoms?

Also, while I agree that Lagenaria is a likely guess for the medieval 
"pumpkin," do we know that it is more than a guess? _The Four Seasons 
of the House of Cerruti_ and related books do have pictures.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/