Down on the Allotment

Matron grows vegetables and fruit in a Hampshire garden. I've been growing veggies since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Some traditional varieties and old favourites as well as new ideas. I share my garden with my allotment assistant Daisy the Labrador. On Twitter as @MatronsVeggies

Thursday, March 27, 2014

There is such a close relationship  between growing your own fruit and vegetables, and cooking and eating them in your own kitchen.  I was very keen recently to give a short interview to Womans Weekly magazine about blogging, eating and cooking.  Sadly I have never been into knitting or sewing so they left that bit out!

 Even now, in late March I still have quite a few of these Queensland blue and Crown Prince squash keeping nicely on a warm windowsill.   This picture below is actually a cross between these two varieties.
 This type of Southern hemisphere Winter Squash have a low moisture content and a lovely, thick waxy skin to help give it a long shelf life... or windowsill life.  So long as it remains warm and dry I have kept them for more than a year like this.
 So when Womans Weekly asked me to share a recipe, I thought back to when I made the Original Pumpkin pie recepie.  When the first settlers arrived in the New World it is known that the first pumpkin pie was known as a Norfolk Millions Pie which was only a slight variation on what we know today.  The term 'millions' may have either referred to the fact that pumpkins were highly prolific, or pumpkins were slightly different then and resembled Melons a bit more than they do nowadays.
If some pumpkins can keep on my windowsill for a year, then they must have survived the journey from the Old World to the New World all those years ago.

8 Comments:

At 10:33 AM, Blogger Gillian Harvey said...

Looks delicious :-)

 
At 12:08 PM, Anonymous Hannah said...

Oh my, that pie looks divine!

 
At 1:25 PM, Blogger Mark Willis said...

food history is fascinating. I'm never sure how they can tell where a fruit or vegetable really originates. Have you read about Bligh of the Bountry transporting breadfruit from the Pacific to the Caribbean?

 
At 3:22 PM, Anonymous Ms. Krieger said...

Your pie looks delicious!

But your history is a bit backwards. All four species of pumpkin/squash (Curcurbita moschata, mixta, pepo and maxima) are from the New World--they originated in the americas!

 
At 7:37 PM, Blogger Kelli said...

Looks a perfect pie. Reminds me of Thanksgiving in the USA.

 
At 7:48 PM, Blogger Wild Mood Swings said...

I think Matron is referring to the makings of the first pumpkin pie , not the first pumpkins

 
At 9:43 PM, Blogger Nome said...

I finally tried Crown Prince this year - it's just wonderful! Have you tried Blue Banana? That was pretty amazing too - a rare one and new for us, but we'll definitely grow it again!

 
At 1:04 AM, Blogger Carrie said...

Oh yes! I loves me a Crown Prince! This looks so good, when can I come round for some :)

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

>