DATE:     11/21/02
CONTACT:  David Bradshaw (864) 656-4949
EDITOR:   Susan Bedingfield, (864) 656-3876;sbeding@Clemson.edu

Thanksgiving pumpkins
                                
                       By David Bradshaw
               Clemson University Horticulturist

	Q: I heard that the pilgrims literally survived on pumpkins. Is 
this true? 
	A: When the pilgrims arrived here in the new world, the Native 
Americans offered them beans, corn and squashes or pumpkins, which are 
both in the same family, and the names used interchangeable. 
	When most people hear the word pumpkin, they think of the huge 
pumpkins we see today, which are used to make jack-o-lanterns and are 
almost hollow.
	The pumpkins of those days were solid flesh. The pumpkins the 
American Indians offered were Cushaw pumpkins. 
	Cushaw pumpkins are basketball size at the bottom where the 
seeds are located, and it is hollow with rather thick flesh. It has a 
neck that is eight to ten inches in diameter and can be two feet long. 
This part of the pumpkin can be solid flesh. 
	The bottom can be cut off and cooked that day. The neck will 
keep for as long as two to three weeks at room temperature storage. 
Cushaws do not respond well to cold storage, and it is better stored at 
room temperature. 
	Just cut off segments to cook. It will form a tough skin like 
seal on the end of the fruit or it can be cooked all at once and then 
frozen.
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www.clemson.edu/psamedia or write to PSA Media Relations, A-101 Poole
Agricultural Center, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C. 29634-0129.
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