Pumpkin, an orange delight!
- Yohan
- May 28, 2024
- 5 min read
Hi and welcome back to a new post here on my website A Twist of Yohan.
In this post I want to talk to you about pumpkin or to use the correct name squash. Yes, I heard you thinking, isn't pumpkin season in October. And yes you are right, October is the best time for pumpkins. But what a friend of mine always said was, Pumpkin, an orange delight! Not just during Halloween.
There two reasons why I still want to talk to you about these delicious fruits, yes they are a fruit not a vegetable, what many people think they are.
But coming back to to my reasons to mention this pumpkin kind. The first reason is that last week, I was walking in the supermarket and I saw some big, nice butternut squash laying around which caught my eye. On a personal note, I love making some good and tasteful food with pumpkin. There are a lot of flavors, herbs and spices that go great with this worldly eaten delightful fruit. So I decided to buy one and make something nice with it and share it with you. The second reason is that I treated myself a little bit over a week ago. I ordered a variation of delicious and aromatic spice mixes and blends from the always cheerful and creative Jurino, the Super Dushi Chef! Which you can find here, and I can really recommend to try out his recipes and wonderful spices mixes.
So in my mind one and one made two, and I had to do something with the butternut squash and one of the delicious spice blends to make a nice and tasty meal from these two influences. I decided to use the combination of the two and create a delicious butternut squash-coconut soup with the Afro-Cajun spice mix from Jurino. These flavors go really great together! The sweetness from the butternut squash and coconut together with the kick and aroma of spices from the Afro-Cajun mix. All these flavors go perfectly together to create a perfect balance of flavors all around, to give your tastebuds a run for their money. This soup is great to eat as lunch but also a great meal for those warm summer nights to enjoy with friends and family. Serving some crispy French baguette or a nice rosemary focaccia bread with this soup makes it complete.
But as I'm a bit of a food nerd and always want to learn about what I'm cooking, I want to share with you some information about pumpkin as well. Let me tell you a bit more about this pumpkin.
First let me tell you a bit of my own experience with pumpkin. In the kitchen I have used this fruit in many ways. Baking pies and cakes, making sweet & sour or pickled, I would make soups, cremes, chutneys, jams with pumpkin, creating a hot sauce or serve it as side when roasted, sauteed or grilled. But these are just a few options to serve this wonderful pumpkin. I have used pumpkin in salads, starters, mains, amuse bouche, desserts, you name it. It is very versatile product to use in a lot of ways, and it blends well with a lot of different herbs and spices. The most common spices or spice mix used with pumpkin is the spice mix for pumpkin pies. This spice mix includes clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
But basil, rosemary, cayenne pepper or most hot peppers in that case, curry powder and so much more spices go perfectly well with this fruit. I can recommend you to experiment yourself with different spices and herbs when you are using pumpkin in your meals.
But let me continue before I start drooling all over my keyboard from all those delicious combinations of pumpkin and spices I can use in my dishes.
Let's start with a little bit of history of pumpkin.
Scientists believe that pumpkin is about 7000 years old, maybe even older. They concluded this from seeds found in Mexico and dating them back to about 5550 B.C. The word pumpkin originates from the Greek word Peopon which means large melon. The word was later evolved to the French Pompon, what became Pompion in Britain, until the word evolved into Pumpkin in America.
Pumpkin and all other sorts of squash, were a historically important food for the Native Americans. The squash were grown along river banks next to maize and beans. A wonderful planting technique created which called 'the three sisters'. Let me give you a quick explanation about this technique because it is still used today. And because I personally love this technique plus the respect I have for the people who invented this great growing/farming technique, I have to share it with you.
'The three sisters' planting technique allows three different crops to grow simultaneous to each other, supporting each crop to grow and flourish. The three crops are maize (corn), beans and squash. When the maize grows, the stems will function as a trellis where upon the beans can climb. The beans are than nourished by the sunlight they need to have to grow, this also helps the stalks of maize to maintain stable on windy days. The squash will grow in between, sheltering the maize shallow roots from the weeds from taking over. A perfect balance of all three crops helping each other grow and flourish.
Like I said before Pumpkin is technically a fruit, and pumpkin is called a winter squash. Pumpkin and squash are also family from the Cucurbitaceae, which includes cucumbers and melons.
Pumpkins are 92% water and a good source of potassium, Vitamin A and Beta-carotene, what is a powerful antioxidant that gives the orange color to the fruit. Everything of the pumpkin is edible, from the skin, leaves, flowers, pulp, seeds and even the stems. There are 45 varieties which range in the colors orange, red, yellow and green.
But where pumpkin is most famous for is a sign of Autumn and Halloween, 31st of October. In the USA, pumpkins are a central element in the fall festivals which are held every year all over the country. 26 of October is National Pumpkin day and celebrates the popular squash that is native to North America.
Most famous during Halloween are the Jack-O'-lanterns, that you will see at a lot of houses during this period, mostly carved by the families themselves.
The history behind these lanterns are very interesting. The lanterns were brought over from the Irish immigrants moving to America. A tradition which started in Ireland where Jack-O'-lanterns were carved from potatoes and turnips. But on arrival to the USA the potatoes and turnips were replaced with pumpkins as they are much easier to carve.
According to Irish myth and legend, a notorious man, who went by the name "Stingy Jack" who was know as a real trickster. Legend even says "Stingy Jack" tricked the devil on multiple occasions. Upon his death, the devil refused "Stingy Jack" to enter and was sent his way with a lump of burning coal to guide his way. The legends says that "Stingy Jack" put this burning coal into a hollowed out turnip to see while roaming the earth ever since. This is said to be the legend behind the Jack-O'-Lanterns.
Now you know a bit more about pumpkins and its history. I learned a lot of new things and I hope you as well.
I still owe you the tasteful recipe for the delicious pumpkin soup. You can find my recipe right here by clicking on Yohan's coconut-pumpkin spiced soup.
It was again a great adventure through the world of food and learned something more about this great pumpkin.
I hope you will try the recipes I created and will enjoy it very much.
Until we meet again,
Yohan
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