Pumpkin is pumpkin, also known as pumpkin, rice melon, north melon, etc., with different names. It is a species of Cucurbitaceae Cucurbitaceae, specifically an annual creeping herb. The petiole is stout, and the leaves are ovoid or broadly ovoid. Monoecious, the corolla is yellow and bell-shaped. The shape of the fruit is diverse, depending on the variety. There are many seeds in it, which are gray, oval or oblong. Wide adaptability and can be cultivated in most areas.

There are many ways to eat pumpkin meat, which is fragrant in taste and rich in nutritional value. It can be used for cooking, pumpkin porridge, pumpkin cakes, cakes, sweet drinks and so on.

Pumpkin flowers and melon seedlings can also be eaten, usually fried. pumpkin flowers tastes unique and sweet, usually fried or made into soup, which is a rare delicacy.

Pumpkin seeds can be made into snacks. Pumpkin seeds can be eaten in two ways: sun-dried and fried. It is indispensable for friends and relatives to get together during the Spring Festival.

Cultivation history of pumpkin

Pumpkin originated in South America and has been cultivated for 9,000 years. Columbus brought it back to Europe, and was introduced to Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and other places by Portugal. It began to enter China in the Ming Dynasty. Li Shizhen said in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Pumpkins were planted in Nanfan, transferred to Fujian and Zhejiang, and now they are also found in Yanjing. Planting in February is suitable for Shawo land, and seedlings are born in April, which leads to numerous vines, and one vine can be extended by more than ten feet ... Its son is like winter melon seeds, and its meat is thick and yellow, so it can't be eaten raw, but it tastes like yam. It is better to cook with pork, and it can also be fried with honey. "

In Yuan Dynasty, Jia Ming also mentioned "pumpkin" in "Dietary Instructions". He said: "Pumpkin is sweet in taste, warm in nature, and causes beriberi and jaundice when eating more. It's irritating to eat meat from the same sheep. Avoid eating with pork liver, red beans and buckwheat noodles. "

But Columbus had not yet arrived in discovery of america, and China had not found any other wild species of pumpkin, so the "pumpkin" in the book is by no means what we call pumpkin today, but other melon plants. It's just that today's pumpkins are not suitable for eating with mutton, so they are misinformed, and even the wrong statements such as "Pumpkins have been introduced to China for a long time" and "Asia is also the origin of pumpkins" are derived.

The advantages of pumpkin are very obvious. It has large yield, easy survival and rich nutrition, and can replace grain in famine years, so it is also called "rice melon" and "rice melon". "The record of holding an urn in Beishu" said: "The older the pumpkin, the better. It is advisable to cook Huangzhou pork with Zizhan, with less water and slow down the fire. The steaming is extremely cooked, sweet and greasy, and extremely fragrant." The so-called "Zi Zhan's method of cooking pork in Huangzhou" is Su Dongpo's method of making Dongpo meat, which shows that people have regarded pumpkins as treasures.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Cucurbita generally refers to pumpkin.