DeeDee Stovel - Pumpkin, a Super Food for All 12 Months of the Year

A Super Food
for All 12 Months of the Year

DEEDEE STOVEL

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Andrea Dodge

Art direction and text design by Cynthia McFarland

Cover designed by Kent Lew

Illustration by Scott Baldwin

Cover photography credits. Front, (top l. to r.) : James Carrier Photography/Stockfood America, Cazals-StockFood Munich/Stockfood America, Eising FoodPhotography/Stockfood America, Banderob-StockFood Munich/Stockfood America; (middle l. to r.) Theresa Raffeto Photography/Stockfood America, Cazals-StockFood Munich/Stockfood America, Burke/Triolo Productions/Getty; (bottom l. to r.) Bischof-StockFood Munich/Stockfood America, Rick Mariani Photography/Stockfood America. Spine: Burke/Triolo Productions/Getty.

Text production by Erin Dawson

Indexed by Andrea Chesman

2005 by Edith Stovel

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The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information. For additional information please contact Storey Publishing, 210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, Massachusetts 01247.

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Printed in the United States by CJK

10 9 8 7 6 5

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Stovel, DeeDee.

Pumpkin : a super food for all 12 months of the year / by DeeDee Stovel.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-58017-594-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Cookery (Pumpkin) I. Title.

TX803.P93S76 2005

641.6562dc22

2005016483

Writing a cookbook is an act of love in large part because those you love and live with must eat your successes and failures. My husband Jack jokes that he gains 10 pounds for every cookbook I write. Fortunately there has been time in between for him to lose it. He has been my best critic and most supportive pal throughout the writing of this book, and for that I am most grateful. Our familys Sunday pizza nights were diverted into tasting sessions for various recipes thanks to the palates of Meg and Jezz, Dick and Lisa, Lennie, Molly and Emrich. Having eaters on hand is essential for a cookbook writer, and my new neighbors in California pitched right in. The next door Reidy family Bill and Gina and their four kids, Chelsea, Olivia, Sam, and Elliot took the job of tasting very seriously.

Recipe testers were invaluable for their careful testing and forthright commentary. Thanks especially to the stalwarts who kept coming back for more: Wendy Taylor, Donna Elefson, Judy Madden, Andy Shatken, Susan Smith, and Marcia Mallory. Thanks also to my daughters, Kate Stovel and Meg Holland; my brother and his wife, Dennis and Susan McCoy; my niece, Maura Kahn; and Sandy Jorling, Mimi Jorling, Polly Friedrichs, Larrie Rockwell, Kelly Martin, Lara Sellers, Becky Pettit, Mary Tierney, Joe Zeeman, Kimmie McCann, Jane Stuebner, Esther Christensen, Lynda Scofield, Pam Turton, and Pam Wakefield.

For ideas and inspiration I thank Barby Linnard. Judy Witts shared wonderful recipes. Dianne Cutillo, former editor at Storey Publishing, was most helpful and supportive in getting this project launched. Andrea Dodge, my editor, has been enthusiastic and encouraging throughout.

My love affair with pumpkin began badly. As an aspiring ballerina longing for a tutu or, at the very least, a ballerina dress, my costume for the recital was puffy, not graceful, shiny and bright orange, not subtle and romantic. I was a pumpkin, not a twirling, leaping dancer in a lovely costume! It was the end of my ballet career, but not the end of the shiny orange costume my mom had lovingly sewn for me. The costume lived on in kid plays and for many Halloweens, until, no longer puffy or shiny, the limp and shredded orange satin was retired to the trash.

When my second daughter was born, my mom came up to help out. For some reason I have yet to fathom, my husband and I thought that helping with a baby, running after a two year old, and helping to run our house would not keep her busy enough. Since she was a wonderful cook and expert pie maker, and it was pumpkin season, we asked her to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. Only after we had wiped the last delicious crumbs from our lips did she tell us she always used canned pumpkins in her pies and had never before used a fresh pumpkin.

Things started to improve when this same daughter was a little older and needed her adenoids removed. We gave her a huge Teddy bear to take to the hospital. She promptly named the bear Pumpkin for reasons known only to her. A very worn and weary Pumpkin now sits on a big-girl bed and is much beloved by the new generation.

And here I am, many years later, riding on this family theme by chopping and peeling fresh pumpkins, opening can after can of prepared pure and becoming utterly fascinated with the versatility and flavor of pumpkin as an ingredient in all kinds of recipes. This amazing gourd, which appears in many cuisines and cultures around the world, has gotten my creative juices flowing, as you will see in the following pages.

When I told people I was writing a pumpkin cookbook, I got one of two reactions. Ohhhh, I LOVE pumpkin, how exciting, when is it coming out? or You are writing about WHAT? Pumpkin? Why would you want to do that? This book is clearly for the first group, but the second group will find there is a lot to love about pumpkins, clearly a super food!

Pumpkins happily grow in all climates across the United States. In fact, they grow on every continent except Antarctica. One of the many winter squashes, pumpkins have long been prized for their nutrition, adaptability, and staying power. The sturdy outer skin allows them to be stored in a cool place for months. Native to North America, pumpkins have been cultivated for about 9,000 years. For the indigenous people, pumpkin was a mainstay of their diet, and it has served as such for succeeding cultures. Pumpkin offers protein, complex carbohydrates, vitamin C, potassium, and huge amounts of vitamin A and beta-carotene, the precursor to vitamin A. It is high in fiber and low in calories. For sustenance, pumpkin is hard to beat.