History of pumpkin seeds

The pumpkin is thought to have originated in Central America. Archeological remains, dated about 8750 BC, have been found in Mexico. Pumpkins appear in the Southwest in precermamic levels at Bat Cave and Tularosa Cave at about 1000-500 BC; by that time they were probably widespread in Mesoamerica and were present in the Midwestern United States.

Pumpkins are considered to have been the first food to travel from the New World to be cultivated in Europe. The English name pumpkin dates back to sometimes before the 1600s, but the fruit has its true roots in American soil.

Pumpkins were a staple in the Native American diet and a part of their healing medicines long before the pilgrims showed up and claimed it for their Thanksgiving day meal. The Iroquois used an infusion of pumpkin seeds to treat children with reduced urination.

The Menomini used the seeds of pumpkin to facilitate the passage of urine. The seeds were pulverized in a mortar and the powder mixed with water. Catawba Indians chewed pumpkin seeds fresh or dried and swallowed them as a kidney medicine.

As an early introduction to Europe, the sixteen-century German herbalist Fuchs recommended pumpkin seeds, which he lumps together with cucumbers, melons and cantaloupe – an ambiguity perhaps reflecting its recent arrival from America - ‘when the bladder is being difficult,’ as prescription that coincided with the modern use of extract of pumpkin seeds for urinary and prostate problems.

Pumpkins were easy to cultivate and became a common food at meals, particularly in New England. They were baked, fried, mashed, roasted and stewed and eaten as an accompaniment to meat. Pumpkin seeds were eaten like nuts, raw or roasted, or fried in deep fat and salted to give ‘pepitos’.

In some parts of Central America the roasted kernels are combined with a sticky syrup to form ‘pepitorio’, a sweet confection. They are common in Mexican and Native American cuisines. Today, pumpkin seeds are produced commercially by the United States, China, India and Mexico.
History of pumpkin seeds