Pumpkins, native to Central America, were grown for millennia before corn. In lean times pumpkins could be substituted for flour, molasses, and sugar. Indigenous peoples taught settlers to roast, bake, make pies and ferment them. By the 1800s, pioneers carried pumpkin seeds west, relying on them when other crops failed. The seeds could be kept and used for years, and the fruits can store without refrigeration for many months. Only after refrigerators spread in the 1940s did pumpkins slip from daily fare into autumn nostalgia.
Growing Home - Pumpkins
