Vegetables Known As Squash

In southern China peanut oil is the cooking fat for many millions of people

, and among the Mohammedans of the East Indies, Philippines, Malaya, and India peanut oil is widely used. The Hindus of India and Ceylon likewise use it extensively for cooking. Senegal grows peanuts on a large scale, exporting them to France where they help to make "olive" oil. In other parts of Africa they are of importance in the native domestic economy. The vegetables known as squash belong to several species and were all cultivated by the Amerinds from prehistoric times. They were probably all native to the South American tropics, but various kinds had been carried to, and cultivated over, much of both North and South America long before the white man came.

The largest and best of the squashes, the best for baking and for pumpkin pies, are varieties of Cucurbito maxima. Many kinds were cultivated in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Central America, and the West Indies in prehistoric times. The Valparaiso squash, which sometimes weighs more than a hundred pounds, was introduced into the United States from Chile in 1812. The late squashes, such as the Hubbard, which keep through the winter under favorable conditions, were introduced from the West Indies. The squashes of the maxima group are grown throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world.

In remote times the cushaw, Cucurbito moschata, from tropical America, was cultivated extensively throughout the upper Mississippi Valley and Lower Canada to Florida, and also in Central America, Brazil, and Peru. It is now grown largely in the Mediterranean countries, and all through southern Asia to China south of the Yang-tse, and also in Portuguese West Africa. The cushaw was highly esteemed by the Amerinds and pioneer whites of the Mississippi Valley, but is apparently unknown today to most people of this country. It is still preferred to other squashes in many oriental regions, and varieties of it are used to make candy in South China and the Philippines. Cucurbito pepo includes the thin-fleshed or watery forms known as pumpkins and summer squash, and also those with a pithy or hollow interior, when ripe, as the gourds. All these are now cultivated all over the world wherever the climate allows.

Vegetables Known As Squash

By: katharinelawing

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