Tonight we're
supposed to get our first frost of the season in some of the
"hollers" between the hills. The sky is clear and the moon
almost round. Yes, there is a chill in the air.
Enough of a chill that we turned on the pellet stove for the
first time since June.
The use of pumpkins is for food dates
back to the natives of the Americas.
They grew pumpkins and squash and developed many ways of
preparing them. The
natives also taught the early settlers these ways with food.
It's believed natives in Central America
originally grew pumpkins.
Then those of North America adopted them for food.
Their various methods of preparation included baking,
boiling, making pumpkin into a soup, drying it, and grinding
this food into a meal they used for making breads.
For winter use and preservation, the
natives cut the pumpkins into rings and strips.
Then they hung them to dry.
Jack-o-Lanterns
Before long in our culture, children will
be carving and painting faces on pumpkins to display for
Halloween. They remind me of my childhood. One year my
sister carved a large pumpkin to place over her head as her
costume.
As I browsed through photos I'd taken
over the years, I discovered many with pumpkins and autumn
leaves, stonewalls along the roadside and across the fields, as
well as children with their jack-o-lanterns.. From these,
I created a colorful poetry scrapbook album, with the theme
Autumn in New England.
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| Pumpkin Pie |
Many Pumpkin Recipes
You'll discover many ways to use
pumpkins-from desserts to casseroles to breads and soups.
One recipe for
Pumpkin Soup calls for it cooked in the rind.
I talked with a lady who said she did this and found the
soup delicious.
According to an
Early Pumpkin Pie Recipe, you cut a slice from the top of
the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, and fill with cavity with
milk, sugar, and spices.
Then you baked it until the pumpkin was cooked and center
mixture thickened.
Pumpkin Souffle - Combine 1 cup canned or thick cooked,
mashed pumpkin with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup firmly packed
brown sugar and stir well. Beat 3 egg whites until stiff, then
add 1/8 teaspoon salt and fold it into the pumpkin mixture.
Grease a 1-quart baking dish or mold and
fill about 2/3 full with the pumpkin.
Set in a pan of hot water.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for abut 40 minutes.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
(c)Mary Emma Allen
(Mary Emma Allen enjoys autumn in New
England with it's colorful foliage and pumpkin decorations.
She writes stories for children and adults and is
celebrating her 50th year as a journalist.
E-mail: me.allen@juno.com
)