Did Early Settlers Dry Pumpkin For Mats

Check out these pumpkin facts.

Did early settlers dry pumpkin for mats.

Pumpkin has been prepared in a variety of ways from soups to stews to desserts since the immigration of the first european settlers. Did you know there are other colors of pumpkins. Orange skinned round pumpkins are the most familiar varieties that fill pumpkin patches. Early settlers ate pumpkin as a staple in their diet.

Whether they learned this from native americans is not known. This is considered the origin of the pumpkin pie. Not only did they dry strips of pumpkin for weaving into mats they also invented a form of fast food by roasting long strips of pumpkin on open fires. Settlers saw the uses and benefits and quickly added them as part of their own culture with the ultimate culmination coming in the form of the pumpkin spice latte obviously.

When the first white settlers arrived they witnessed this versatile plant and it soon became part of their diets too. Breakfast was served a little later after the first chores were done. Woven pumpkin mats hang on a wood drying rack in the wichita indian exhibit at the kansas museum of history. It will dry in a week.

Selection the most popular use of pumpkin is for decoration as jack o lanterns. Flattened strips of pumpkin dried them and made mats. The pumpkin is a variety of winter squash a member of the gourd family and comes in a variety of sizes shapes and colors the fruit grows on vines and is ready to be harvested in early autumn. In addition to cooking with pumpkins they also dried the shells and cut strips to weave into mats.

When the mat is completed secure by tucking ends under to conceal. One practical example is when they would dry strips of pumpkin and weave them into mats. Colonist filled a hollowed out shell with milk honey and spices then baked it in hot ashes. Pumpkins are grown on every continent but antarctica.

When the mat is woven pound it lightly. When dry your mat will measure about 14 by 16 inches. A fairly new fall decoration trend you may have noticed is white pumpkins. Most settlers rose early in the morning and started chores right away having only a drink of ale at first.

Some natives would employ pumpkins for other uses. Foods of early settlers 1850 1870. The world s top producers of pumpkins include china india ukraine the united states egypt and mexico. Pilgrims and early settlers made pumpkin pie by hollowing out a pumpkin filling the shell with milk honey and spices and baking it.

Early settlers dried pumpkins shells cut it into strips and wove it into mats. Early settlers used pumpkin in stews soups and desserts much as it is used today in most pumpkin growing countries.