Pumpkin

 The pumpkin is any of a group of closely related, hard-skinned and orange-fleshed New World squash species, i.e., Curcubita pepo, C. mixta, C. moschata, or C. maxima, that have been cultivated for human consumption for thousands of years.

Pumpkins are thought to be indigenous to southern North America, as seeds have been found in archaeological sites in Mexico dating from between 7000 and 5500 B.C.E. After the Spanish conquered Mexico, pumpkins were brought to the Old World, where virtually all cultures that were introduced to these squash readily accepted them as both a versatile vegetable and as a source of delicious seeds.

The seed of the pumpkin is famous for having a fairly strong worm-purging and laxative effect, while remaining gentle towards the gastrointestinal system. The seed can also be pressed to produce a flavorful and nutritious oil of potential (some say dubious) health benefits. Pumpkin seed oil is used primarily as a flavoring for desserts (greatly enhancing the flavor of vanilla ice cream, for example), and as a base for some Central and Eastern European salad dressing. This oil should not be used for cooking, as heating denatures the oil’s essential fatty acid, destroying its nutritional value.

The flesh of pumpkin is used as a starchy, sweet vegetable. In European and American cuisines, pumpkins are cooked, often via steaming, until soft, and mashed or pureed as a base for soup. Occasionally, pumpkin in Western cuisines may be cooked as a gratin, stuffed into ravioli, or most often, used to make a custard-like pie filling, a la pumpkin pie. In Japan cuisine, pumpkins are often cooked in savory dishes, often sliced and fried as tempura. In Chinese cuisine, pumpkins are often used in rice porridges, as well as stir-fry.

In Western Herbology, pumpkin seed sees a great deal of use as a helminthicide, a laxative, and a catarrh-resolver. Pumpkin flesh, on the other hand, has seen virtually no medicinal use (outside of dietary needs) in Western Herbology.

In Asian Herbology, pumpkin flesh is used in food therapy primarily to help nourish and strength the Spleen both directly and by resolving damp pathogens that would otherwise damage the Spleen (most likely due to its high fiber content and diuretic properties). Some food therapy regiments also use pumpkin flesh to help diabetes. This has been confirmed in some recent scientific studies, where diabetic rats experienced improved diabetic conditions after being fed phytochemicals isolated from pumpkin paste. In Japan, some pumpkin varieties have been cultivated for medicinal properties, such as how the linolenic acid-rich Shishigatani pumpkin has been cultivated for hundreds of years to help ward off the paralytic effects of summertime polio and damp-bi. Pumpkin can be cooked for helping ease the pain of sufferers of multiple sclerosis. The high content of soluble fiber in pumpkin flesh has lead pet-owners to feed pumpkin pie mix, or canned pumpkin to their cats and dogs to help resolve digestive ailments, such as constipation, diarrhea and hairballs.