SQUASHES

This isn't the first time that we've featured squash, but surprisingly is the first time that we've used the name! You've met them already in this series in the guise of pumpkin and also pattypan. We're in the domain of marrows, zucchini, courgettes and the like.

These are, botanically, fruit, although most of us think of them as vegetables. The principal division is between the summer and winter squashes. The summer varieties include the pattypan and the courgette and are harvested while the skin is still tender -- they tend to be smaller than the winter varieties and require little if any cooking. The winter varieties include the pumpkin, the butternut and the spaghetti squash. They're harvested at the onset of winter in order to let the skins harden -- stored in a cool place they keep well, but usually require longer cooking times than the summer species.

Although they're common, and grow well locally in the Fens, it's in North America that they're especially popular -- in fact the name 'squash' is Native American for 'eaten raw'. The indigenous Americans referred to their three staple crops as the 'Three Sisters' -- corn, beans and squash.

Another feature of the US use of squashes that doesn't seem to have penetrated as widely here is the use of other parts of the plant -- the seeds can be eaten, the leaves are a tasty green vegetable, and it's possible to obtain vegetable oil from squash,

They grow as large trailing plants sprawling across the ground. To cultivate them yourself, you sow directly into the soil after the last frost of the winter and provide some shelter until germination. From then until harvest, there's not much to be done other than picking off the weaker plants.

 

 

BACK TO FEN FOOD MASTER PAGE >>