Zapallos: Pumpkins and Squash

The gourds of the Indies are another monstrosity, both in their size and the luxuriance with which they grow, especially those that are native to the land which they call capallos, whose flesh can be eaten, especially during lent, either boiled or stewed.  José de Acosta, 1590[1]

Zapallos (Cucurbita spp.) continue to surprise foreigners as they did Spanish Jesuit and naturalist José de Acosta when he saw them in Peru in the 16^th century.  Some are huge, up to 70 lbs, with vivid yellow-orange flesh inside a hard grey-green rind, and they are among the most popular Chilean vegetables, cultivated on over 5,200 hectares (20+ square miles), an area surpassed only by corn, lettuce, tomatoes and onions.[2]

The most popular is the zapallo camote [3]  (above), a variety of  the native South American Cucurbita maxima, the same species that gives us Hubbard squash, banana squash, and those giant pumpkins that appear in state fairs through out the US Midwest. 

C. maxima was domesticated in Peru and was being grown up and down the pacific coast of South America by 1500-2000 BC. In Chile evidence for agriculture dates to 4000-6000 BC, though the earliest evidence for zapallos comes from 2500-500 BC.[4]   Abbe J. Ignatius Molina (1740-1829) tells us of two types that the Mapuche of South Central Chile were cultivating at the time of conquest [5]:

Writing in the 1860s, Claudio Gay provides more detail:

…zapallos are very abundant in Chile as they are very widely consumed and, like the garbanzo, are always a part of the puchero [stew, cazuela]. For this reason they cultivate a variety, the zapallo hollito, which although very green is of excellent flavor and replaces the common zapallo until it ripens.  There are also other kinds that serve for distinct uses; the alcajota which is used to make sweets; a very large gourd, with a hard shell that is used for trays [and boats (!) bateas]; others that are made into containers of various sizes for keeping seeds, powdered chili, etc., but the most notable variety is the common zapallo whose sweetness is not inferior to the sweetest sweet potatoes and like them is commonly eaten roasted in ovens or over coals. Without doubt it is the sweetest variety…  Its size, usually medium, sometimes reaches a weight of 70 pounds.[6] 

Of the varieties mentioned, only the common zapallo (penca, Mapudungun), gourds, (Lagenaria sicerariaI) and the alcayote are common today.  Gourds are made into vessels for drinking maté, and the Mapuche wada (rattle musical instrument); and spaghetti-squash like alcayote (Cucurbita ficifolia, from the Náhuatl chilacayohtli) is made into a jam or marmelada. 

  

Dulce de Alcayote

  

But if the zapallo hollito seems to have disappeared, it has been replaced by the ubiquitous zucchini; Chile’s zapallo Italiano (C. pepo) which was evidently taken from its native Mexico to Europe were it was developed to its present state in the 19^th century and returned to the Americas in the 1920s.[7] 

 Chilean zapallo italiano and other produce

 

And there is also a round variety, great for stuffing.

Eating zapallos

Zapallo camote is available year round in Chile and is an essential ingredient in many of the most Chilean of Chilean dishes:  cazuela (boiled dinner), charquican (hash of beef, potatoes, zapallo, corn, etc.), porotos granados (shell beans with corn and squash), locro de zapallo (pumpkin stew), carbonada (beef soup, from meat left over from an asado, BBQ), and    ….sopaipillas.

 Sopaipillas with chancaca syrup

Sopaipillas  (Recipe wWw.ElChef.T)

1 cup cooked mashed or sieved zapallo camote (or butternut squash)

3 tablespoon melted shortening

1 teaspoon salt

(1 teaspoon baking powder, optional)

2 cups flour

½ cup hot milk or water

Oil for frying (2 cups or so)

Mix ingredients and form a smooth elastic dough, adding additional flour if necessary.  Roll out to a thickness of ¼ inch and cut into 4 inch rounds.  Perforate rounds in several places with a knife or fork and fry for a minute on each side in 375° oil.  They should be golden but not very dark.

Serve with pebre  or simmered in chancaca (raw sugar) syrup

Chancaca syrup

1 lb. (500 gm) chancaca (or dark brown sugar)
2 cups water (1/2 lt.)

1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) orange peel, removed with vegetable peeler and cut into fine strips

Bring all ingredients to a simmer until completely dissolved.  Add sopapillas and simmer briefly.  Serve hot.

Zapallitos italianos

 Chilean recipes for zucchini cover much the same territory as in other parts of the Americas:  steamed, sautéed, stewed with tomatoes and onions, fried, stuffed, and so on. But my wife’s favorite is a little unusual:

Budín de zapallo italiano (zucchini pudding)

2-3 medium zucchini

1 medium onion, minced

1 marqueta (Chilean French roll or 2 slices home-style bread)

grated cheese, reserving some for topping.

2 eggs

1 tomato

milk

oil

salt, pepper, oregano

Cut zucchini in thick rounds and cook in boiling water until done, but al dente.  Remove and chop into pea-sized pieces.  Drain, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.  Soak bread in milk and squeeze out liquid.  Sauté onion in oil until translucent.  Mix zucchini, bread, onion and grated cheese (as much or little as you wish, reserving some for topping) add salt, pepper and oregano to taste.  Beat eggs and add to mixture.  Butter a greda de pomaire casserole (or other earthenware dish) and add mixture.  Top with grated cheese and sliced tomatoes.  Bake in 400° until bubbly and brown on top.

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[1] Acosta, José de 2002 (1590) Natural and Moral History of the Indies. Jane E. Mangan, Ed. Duke University Press.  On line at http://books.google.cl

[2] Chilean Agriculture Overview, 2009. Agarian Policies and Studies Bureau, Ministerio de Agricultura.  On line at www.odepa.gob.cl/odepaweb/publicaciones/Panorama2009.pdf

[3] From the Quechua, zapallu and the Náhuatl (Aztec) camohtli, “sweet potato.” The indigenous Mapuche name is penca.

[4] Pearsall, Deborah M. 2008. Plant domestication and the shift to agriculture in the Andes, Chapter 7.  The Handbook of South American Archaeology. P. 112. Eds., Helaine Silverman and William H. Isbell.  On line at http://books.google.cl/books?id=yZr-lxQgJiAC&lpg=PP1&hl=en&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

[5] Molina, Juan Ignacio. 1809. The Geographical, Natural and Civil History of Chile.  Middletown, Conn: Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme. Vol I, p. 110. On line at http://www.archive.org/details/geographicalnat00moligoog

[6] Gay, Claudio. 1862-1865.  Agricultura, Tomo 2. París: En casa del autor; Chile: Museo de Historia Natural de Santiago, p. 112. On line at http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documentodetalle.asp?id=MC0002688

[7] Decker, Deena S. 1989.  Origin(s), evolution, and systematics of Cucurbita pepo (Cucurbitaceae)  Economic Botany 43(4):423-443 On line at http://www.springerlink.com/content/p8l1108434727h40/