Pumpkin is one of the most traditional Italian foods used in Italy for the preparation of delicious Italian recipes; from autumn to spring the pumpkin appears in the Italian recipes with its sweetness and its nutritive properties, adult and child appreciate it and it’s easy and cheap to cook. Pumpkin is particularly used in the
Mantua cuisine, where it becomes the main ingredients for the preparation of special menu, like the menu of the Christmas Eve that is composed of the
Mantua traditional pumpkin recipe:
Tortelli di Zucca
This delicious recipe is prepared not only in occasion of Christmas Eve but also the 17th of January in occasion of the feast of Saint’ Anthony that is famous for the proverb “Sant’Antoni da la barba bianca mi magni i turtei a ti gnanca” that means “Saint Anthony with white beard, I eat tortelli and you don’t”; the 15th of August and the 11th of November for San Martino feast. In the
tortelli recipe the sweet taste of pumpkin’s pulp, in particular the type
Marina di Chioggia, is accompanied with the taste of amaretti (Italian biscuits) and the delicious taste of the pears mustard of
Mantua, you can serve tortelli seasoned with melted butter and sage. You can find this recipe in the list of the first courses recipes: here I describe the traditional stuffing of tortelli but you can also make changes. For example you can use the mustard of apple instead of the one of pears, you can add pine kernels, peel of lemon and spout. You can also change the seasoning making a one red seasoning prepared with tomatoes and bacon.
The pumpkin is ideal for the preparation of any type of tasteful dishes: from appetizers to first courses, from second courses to desserts. To obtain a good
pumpkin Italian recipe you should be sure that the pumpkin is good, in particular the pumpkin might have these characteristics: you might check if the pumpkin is mature, beating on it with the hand, if it makes an empty and dull sound the pumpkin is ready. Then you should be sure that the pulp is fresh and thick, the stalk is soft and well attached to the pumpkin, the rind is clean and without bruises, the seeds aren’t black. Also consider that the thickness of the pulp is directly proportional to the quality. You can use all the parts of pumpkin, the pulp, the flowers and the seeds, to prepare delicious pumpkin Italian recipes
Others traditional
pumpkin first course recipes include
Gnocchi di Zucca seasoned with a delicate cream of ricotta cheese;
risotto with pumpkin;
soup of pumpkin, or
minestrone with pumpkin accompanied with others vegetables. Therefore you can use the flowers of pumpkin to prepare delicious sauce as seasoning for pasta based recipes. Pumpkin is an ideal food also for the preparation of
second courses like slices of
fried pumpkin spiced with rosemary,
flat bread with pumpkin that is a dish that comes from Sestri Levante in Liguria where this recipe has been invented, the best pumpkin to prepare it is that round and lumpy;
parmigiana pumpkin with Fontina cheese;
stuffed flowers or fritters of flowers that are similar to the fritters made with flowers of zucchini; delicious
flan of pumpkin and many others. For its sweetness flavour pumpkin is an ideal ingredients also for dessert recipes: my favourite
dessert recipes with pumpkin are the
tart of pumpkin and apples and the
biscuits of pumpkin that are traditionally made in occasion of Halloween and they are so simple to prepare that are ideal also for child. Pumpkin can be used to prepare conserves like
jam or
mustard or to prepare the “
zuccata” that are candied pieces of pumpkin used as piping of dessert. The seeds of pumpkin can be used to obtain oil or generally they are dried and roasted and use as appetizers.
Pumpkin is traditional fruit used for many Italian recipes and traditional fairs about pumpkins are organized during the year in many villages of Italy, where you can taste delicious pumpkin recipes. Two of these fairs are:
-
Fair of Mantua that happens from 8th September 2007 to 9th December 2007 during which exhibitions, courses and menu with traditional pumpkin recipes are organized in the farmer court.
-
Fair of pumpkin in Venzone (province of Udine) that is the 27th and 28th of October; in this occasion the village prepares itself for the fair: in the square, in the windows shop, on the newsstand there are pumpkins everywhere. Pumpkins decorated and carved are exhibited and the most weight will reward. Pumpkins recipes are prepared and people can taste them.
Pumpkin is a low-calorie fruit (15 calorie each 100 g) because it contains a high concentration of water (93%) and low quantity of sugar. It, as all the orange and yellow fruits, is rich of vitamin A and C, beta-carotene, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and many fibbers; it has an anti-oxidant action and prevents the ageing. The seeds instead contain protein and oily substances.
Pumpkin is a fruit that belongs to the genus
Cucurbit and to the family of
Cucurbitaceous; it is a berry with a fleshy pulp in which the seeds are dipped. The plant of pumpkin is vigorous with long crawl shaft or short shaft, according to the variety. The leafs and the stalk are scraggy and cover of hair. The flowers are big, of yellow colour and they can be male or female on the same plant. It is a plant easy to cultivate, that doesn’t need excessive quantity of fertilizer and it is able to stand to droughts, diseases and insects. Pumpkin needs a mild weather with a temperature from 10 to 20-25° C. It can be cultivated in any type of ground, but if you want to obtain the best result the ideal ground might be soften, fresh, organic, sunny and with acidic pH. The period of cultivation change according to the region but generally it begins in spring from April to May and the fruits become ready in summer and autumn. The plants need normal quantity of warm water during the germination and a big quantity of warm water in the following phase. The maturation of the pumpkin starts with the beginning of the summer period and continue also in autumn, the pumpkins result mature generally 150 days after the seeding when the plants become dry and the fruits big. When the pumpkins are mature, you can harvest them and then expose them to sun to complete the maturation. After the harvesting the pumpkins can be preserved in dark, fresh and dry ambient, and they traditionally must be eaten before Carnival. The pieces of raw pumpkin are preserved in fridge enveloped in film and must be eaten in few days because the pumpkin easily dehydrate or you can freeze them.
Pumpkin probably comes from Central America, in particular from Mexico where in 6000 – 5000 B.C. the first seeds of pumpkin were found. The first to use pumpkin has been the Indian, which were able to use it as a main ingredient of their diet, and they were able to cultivate it. Then from America pumpkin diffused in all Europe. A great quantity of varieties of pumpkins exists, each of which is different for shape, colour and taste. The most know are:
- the variety
Cucurbit Maxima or sweet pumpkin is the most diffuse; it includes pumpkin of different shapes and dimensions like the big winter pumpkin, the oval shape pumpkin, or the pumpkin with shape of turban. Its rind is green and thick and can be smooth or with longitudinal stripes.
Its weight can reach also 80 kg and its pulp is sweet and floury with a yellow-orange colour and white seeds. This is the kind of pumpkin that is most used for the preparation of Italian recipes, in particular the variety cucurbit maxima includes the following sub-types:
Marina di Chioggia (with green fruits) ideal for
tortelli and gnocchi,
Quintale and the
Melone Gigante (both very big),
Hubbard (tapering) and
Butternut (with pear shape).
- the variety
Cucurbit Moschata has a stretched shape with enlargement at the extremity. It has medium dimensions, its colour can be dark green or orange
and its pulp is tender and sweet. This kind is traditionally used with other vegetables for the preparation of pumpkin
soup and minestrone. This variety includes
Piena di Chioggia,
Lunga invernale di Napoli and
Tromboncino di Albenga.
- the variety
Cucurbit Lagenaria is the traditional ornamental pumpkin. When it is mature it is almost without pulp and with rind and pulp hard. This type of pumpkin can be used to obtain flasks or vessels, it can contain wine or water indeed it is called the “Pumpkin for wine”. In Africa this type of pumpkin, cut in half, is used to realize spoons and ladles.
- the type of pumpkin called
Cucurbit Ficifoli, that grows in Asia, has a pulp that when it is cooked, it breaks up and makes filaments like angel’s hair that are traditionally used as spaghetti, for this reason this type of pumpkin is also called
Spaghetti Pumpkin.
- the variety
Cucurbit Pepo that includes the ordinary pumpkin of zucchini.
The sub-types of pumpkin most used in Italy for the preparation of Italian recipes due to their particular taste are:
- Marina di Chioggia cultivated in the northern part of Italy, in particular in the province of Piacenza and Mantua. This type of pumpkin is ideal for recipes such as gnocchi, tortelli and pasta because its pulp is thick and sugary.
-
Lunga di Napoli (
Long of Naples) cultivated in the southern part of Italy
-
Zucca Lunga invernale (
winter pumpkin)
-
Zucca Quintale-
Lagenaria particularly used as ornament.
Pumpkin is an ideal ingredient for the preparation of Italian recipes, but it can be useful also for the preparation of cosmetic, natural medicine, hand-crafted object and for the realization of the traditional Jack-o'-lantern, the traditional lantern of the Halloween feast. Pumpkin is an important fruit also for the care of the body and to preserve health. It is possible to prepare with the pulp of the pumpkin face pack that make the skin more smooth and clean: to prepare it mix the pulp of raw pumpkin with the seeds and some honey. It also can stimulate tan thank to the presence of vitamin A. Furthermore the pumpkin has digestive, refreshing and anti-tumoral action because it contains high quantity of carotenoidi. The pulp can be used as soothing for the cutaneous inflammation instead the rind can be used for small burn and the extract can be used to solve gastric problem and for the treatment of diabetes and insomnia.
