RECIPE
Pumpion pie
ELEANOR BARNETT recreates a recipe that first appeared in 17th-century England, before taking America by storm
In the culinary world, autumn has become synonymous with pumpkins. All squashes are native to the Americas, and along with corns and beans, they formed the nutritious trio of staple foods known as the ‘three sisters’, because they flourish when planted together. The pumpkin is the best-known of all the squashes, and archaeologists have found its seeds in tombs in central Mexico that date as far back as 7,000 BC. Native American peoples ate the seeds and used the flesh in a whole host of dishes, saving the dried shells as containers.
Europeans first encountered pumpkins as they colonised the Americas at the end of the 15th century. In Tudor England they were known as…
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Bbc History (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2024