Pumpkin Post Script

Just a quick post for you here this morning.  I have been watching the prices of pumpkins post-Halloween, especially the large “Fairytale” variety as they are called here~

Before Halloween they could be found at the Saturday market, grown and sold by Don’s Farm, and also this year they were at Pavillions for $9.  After Halloween, they were marked down to $4.  And today, as I made a quick run to get some yogurt for Mom, I saw they were marked down to $1.  Yes, people looked at me going through the store with a large chariot of pumpkins, but wow, what a great deal!

These will turn into soup for the 100 guests at the dinner next month.  It was interesting that on Saturday I went to Chino Ranch for a book signing, but the chef/author had in fact had his NYC restaurant flooded by Hurricane Sandy.  While his books and signed book plates were there, he also sent a recipe for Pumpkin Soup.  It has garlic in it, and more onion.  A little more than I’d like, but it was still delicious.

I asked the woman serving the soup which pumpkin she used.  “The one in the middle,” she said, “with the ribs.”  I asked her if she knew the variety and of course (it’s Chino Ranch, after all) she did: it’s called Musquée de Provence. You learn something every day…. Looking that up, I see it is originally from northern South America; it was Christopher Columbus who introduced squash to Europe. This variety is related to the Butternut Squash, no surprise there; and apparently was introduced to France “rather late.”  Given that Modern to the French means XVIIC, who knows when it really got to France. 

Look for these if you can this week; they are on sale and as long as they are not blemished they will keep for several months.  It will keep you in soup and bread through the rest of winter~