October 2007 Flavor of The Month

October's Flavor of the Month is Pumpkin. We are featuring our pumpkin alfajores and marshmallows.

We also brought back our Fall Variety Pack Alfajores - Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, and Cranberry; and our Fall Variety Pack of Marshmallows which includes chili, cranberry, rum, pumpkin, and chocolate marshmallows.

Order Early for the Holidays!

A Brief History of the Pumpkin

Pumpkins are believed to have originated in Central and South America. Seeds from related plants have been found in Mexico dating back to 7000 to 5500 B.C.

References to pumpkins date back many centuries. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "huge melon" which is "pepon." "Pepon" was changed by the French into "pompon." The English changed "pompon" to "Pumpion" and American colonists changed "pumpion" into "pumpkin."

Native American Indians used pumpkin as a staple in their diets centuries before the pilgrims landed. They also dried strips of pumpkin and wove them into mats. Indians would also roast long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and eat them. When white settlers arrived, they saw the pumpkins grown by the Indians and pumpkin soon became a staple in their diets. As today, early settlers used them in a wide variety of recipes from desserts to stews and soups. The origin of pumpkin pie is thought to have occurred when the colonists sliced off the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and then filled it with milk, spices and honey. The pumpkin was then baked in the hot ashes of a dying fire.

Pumpkins belong to the squash family. The word "squash" comes from the Massachuset Indian word askutasquash, meaning "eaten raw or uncooked." Although the Indians may have eaten some forms of squash without cooking, today we like our squashes cooked.

Pumpkins and Halloween

The origin of Halloween dates back at least 3,000 years to the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced "sow-ain"). The festival was held starting at sundown on October 31st and lasted until sundown on November 1st. It was similar to the modern practice of the New Years celebration.

On this magical night, glowing jack-o-lanterns, carved from turnips or gourds, were set on porches and in windows to welcome deceased loved ones, but also to act as protection against malevolent spirits. Burning lumps of coal were used inside as a source of light, later to be replaced by candles.

Samhain was not the name of a "Lord of the Dead", no historical evidence has ever been found to back this up, it was simply the name of the festival and meant "Summer's End". It was believed that the souls of the dead were closest to this world and was the best time to contact them to say good bye or ask for assistance. It was also a celebration of the harvest. It is still treated as such today by those who practice Wicca or other nature based religions. It has absolutely nothing to do with satan, who was a creation of the Christian church.

When European settlers, particularly the Irish, arrived in America they found the native pumpkin to be larger, easier to carve and seemed the perfect choice for jack-o-lanterns. Halloween didn't really catch on big in this country until the late 1800's and has been celebrated in many ways ever since!

Spread from South and Central America

All three species of squashes and pumpkins are native to the Western Hemisphere. C. maxima, represented now by such varieties as Hubbard, Delicious, Marblehead, Boston Marrow, and Turks Turban, apparently originated in northern Argentina near the Andes, or in certain Andean valleys. At the time of the Spanish conquest it was found growing in such areas and has never since been found elsewhere except as evidently carried by man.

Unlike maize and tomatoes, this species had not been carried into Central or North America or even northern South America at the time of discovery of the New World. It was unknown to the Old World until the 16th century, and the oldest known definite record of it is dated 1591.

Since this is a plant that requires a fair amount of hot weather for best growth, it has never become very well known in northern Europe, the British Isles, or in similar areas with short or cool summers. Only long-vining plants are known in this species.

C. moschata, represented by such varieties as Cushaw and Winter Crookneck Squashes, and Japanese Pie and Large Cheese Pumpkins, is a long-vining plant native to Mexico and Central America. This species and C. pepo apparently originated in the same general area, Mexico and Central America. Both are important food plants of the natives, ranking next to maize and beans. The flowers and the mature seeds, as well as the flesh of the fruit, are eaten in some areas.

Before the advent of the white man, C. mosckata and C. pepo had been carried over all parts of North America where they could be grown, but they had not been carried into South America as had beans, which originated in the same general region. They were generally grown by Indian tribes all over what is now the United States. Many of these tribes, particularly in the West, still grow a diversity of hardy squashes and pumpkins not to be found in our markets.

Although winter squashes are grown in many lands today, they are relatively unimportant with few exceptions. They are grown extensively in tropical America, in Japan, and in certain districts in the United States. The calabazas of the West Indies and the forms grown by the natives of Mexico and Central America are not of uniform, pure varieties such as we grow, but are extremely variable as to size, shape, color, and quality. Since these species are normally cross-pollinated, it is difficult to keep a variety pure.

In Japan just after World War II I found squash growing on trellises over the doorways or on the sides of houses, at the foundations of burned-out buildings where vines can grow over the ruins, and beside and over small streams on horizontal trellises of poles.

The largest "pumpkins" grown and bragged about are often C. maxima, really squashes; and much of the pumpkin pie we eat is made from C. maxima, squash. The best commercially canned "pumpkin" is not pumpkin but Delicious, Boston Marrow, or similar squash. The flesh of these varieties of squash is much richer and more nutritious than that of pumpkin.

Split Bean Coffee's Alfajores La Misión - Pumpkin Flavor are made using imported South American Pumpkin Jelly and season with our special blend of spices. They are available on a Seasonal Basis in both the Standard and bite size variety. You may order them through our website or via telephone at (877) 448-5185