Cushaws
The first cushaws of the season have now been harvested.
Robert Beverly, who recorded observations of those fruits and vegetables known to the indigenous people before the English arrived in his seminal work The History and Present State of Virginia, first published in 1705, included this description: “Their cushaws are a kind of pompion, of a bluish green color, streaked with white, when they are fit for use. They are larger than the pompions, and have a long narrow neck.”
They are a member of the Cucurbita argyrosperm species and I would rather typify them as white streaked with bluish green but the portrayal is, as the homily goes, in the eye of the beholder.
Cushaws are better known in the southern colonies than they are in New England and their light yellow flesh is used in the same manner as the common pumpkin.
Also this week we have harvested the first of the D’Alger cantaloupes. Many modern gardeners are unfamiliar with the true cantaloupe, using the name instead for the netted or musk melons.
D’Alger cantaloupes
Cantaloupes were first introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century and have long been prized as the finest of the melon species. Philip Miller described the introduction of the cantaloupe to Italy and the origin of its name in The Gardeners Dictionary: “This Sort was brought from Armenia, on the Confines near Persia, where the best Melons in the World grow. … This sort of Melon has been long cultivated at Cantaleupe, a little District about ten Leagues from Rome.”
Cantaloupes differ from musk melons in their ribbed and often warted appearance and, unlike musk melons, do not slip from the vine when ripe.
Many, however, such as the D’Alger melon develop a yellowish color when they come to maturity which assists the gardener in discovering the proper season for their harvest. All varieties of cantaloupe are orange fleshed fruit and, as Mr. Evelyn observed in Acetaria (1699), are “Paragon with the noblest Productions of the Garden.”
Misti Furr says
Hi Wesley,
We are growing the Zatta canteloupes on our 1740 farm at the Frontier Culture Museum. I thought that an indication for ripening was slip-but perhaps I need to go by color and smell? We’re also growing Boston Marrow squash, and recently harvested 3 20(plus) pounders-but would you suggest just leaving them on the vine until fall?
Thanks,
Misti
Dearest Misti,
The Zatta, being a true cantaloupe does not slip until it is well past its prime. The ripeness is judged by a change in color from mottled green to yellow. The aroma is also markedly enhanced as the fruit reaches perfection. The Boston Marrow is a winter squash so can be left on the vine but perhaps preferably harvested once the rind has turned a rich orange and resists being punctured by your finger nail. They store well in a cool dark space. Both the Boston Marrow and the Hubbard squash seem to appear in Massachusetts in the 1830’s. They are both of the species Cucurbita maxima and originate in South America, perhaps in Chile, and were likely carried to New England by sailors plying the South American trade.
Yr. Servant and fellow gardener,
Wesley Greene
Dear Sylvie,
There are four species of Cucurbits one may encounter in the garden. Cucurbita pepo is the most common and includes the field pumpkin, yellow crookneck, zucchini, acorn, pattypan, etc. etc. and is very susceptible to the squash vine borer. The cushaw is classed as C. argyrospern and is also quite susceptible to the pest. Cucurbita maxima includes the giant show pumpkins and the Hubbard squash. Hubbard’s are, perhaps, the most susceptible of all types of Cucurbita to the borer. Finally there are the C. moschata varieties that includes the well-known butternut squash and all seem to be impervious to the pest. The butternut squash is not appropriate for a colonial garden but the cheese pumpkin and Canadian crookneck (also C. moschata) are and these are the varieties I rely upon. Both are ripening nicely and in hope of a fruitful harvest
I remain, your servant,
Wesley Greene
Sylvie in Rappahannock says
Thank you, Wesley.
I do have a type of cheese pumpkin planted, but it was seeded much later than the butternut, and in not as rich a soil. We’ll see what happens. Many thanks again for your continued report on the Colonial Williamsburg vegetable patch. They are a treasure.
Sylvie in Rappahannock says
ah! The vine borers… there are so difficult to fight without chemicals indeed. There is only so much hand-picking one can do before other garden tasks call. I have resorted to growing mainly butternut squash for winter squash because they seem to be so much more resistant to squash bugs and vine borers. Also I heavily rely on the squash emerging from the winter compost pile: they always germinate when the time is best and are so much more vigorous and prolific than anything I start. Would butternut squash have been grown in Colonial Williamsburg or are they a newer cultivar?
Here at the frontier in the Virginia Piedmont, we do have bears, deer, racoons, opossums & groundhogs, which we deter with electrical fencing. It generally works well enough although - of course - it requires quite a bit of maintenance to be effective. But I realize that option is simply not available to you… Squirrels are generally not a pest as they have natural predators. Rabbits go where they want — although wattle fence and tree guards help a little. Mostly the wattle fence keeps chicken out of specific areas. Yesterday, under the grape trellis, I came upon a black snake in the process of ingesting a young rabbit — I backed off quickly to let it enjoy its meal.
Sylvie in Rappahannock says
Will you be storing the cushaws for winter use? or will they be cooked shortly? Is is customary that the harvest be so early?
My dearest Sylvie,
We have put the flax up in a corn crib to protect it from the weather and to assist in the drying of the stems. It has been extraordinarily wet and humid in Williamsburg this last week so we are waiting for dryer conditions to continue processing the flax. I will certainly continue our conversation of turning flax to linen as conditions permit. As to the cushaws, they are normally treated as a winter squash and harvested later in the year. We have be obliged to harvest them sooner than what we would wish this year for two reasons. The first is the infection of the stems with the squash vine borer which, without the benefit of modern chemicals, is a nearly insurmountable obstacle to keeping the plants throughout the summer months. The second, and even more vexing, problem is the depredations from our outsized squirrel population so that I have had to harvest them early to insure any harvest at all. The 18th century solution to squirrels was to add them to the stew but my 21st century visitors object to firearms in the garden.
Cordially,
Wesley Greene
Good morning Wesley,
If the vine borer was not a problem would 18th century gardeners have some means of putting cages around the squash and other vegetables to keep the critters out? And how much longer would the squash have stayed in the garden before harvesting? One can only have so much squirrel and rabbit stew. Were raccoons and opossum a garden problem - then and now?
Stay cool.
Your humble student,
Chris
Dear Christine,
Winter squash such as the Cushaw, Acorn and Pumpkin are generally harvested when the rind is hard enough so that you cannot easily dent it with your fingernail. You can leave them on the vine until frost threatens. As for critters in the garden, by the second half of the 18th century most of the forest east of the Blue Ridge mountains had been cleared and those animals associated with the woodlands, such as deer, raccoon and squirrel, were also quite scarce. I do find references to rabbits as a pest in the garden. John Custis wrote in 1739, “I have raised 10 fine horse chestnut trees but the hares eat off the tender tops and buds 2 years running…I was obliged to defend them from those mischevious vermin by enclosing them round with boards,” so your suggestion for cages would have met with approval by Williamsburg gentlemen.
Yr. Obedient Servant,
Wesley Greene
Good day to you Wesley,
The articles have been very fascinating and informative.
How does the taste of the D’Alger cantaloupes and Cushsaws compare to their modern day cousins?
Thanks as always for the education.
Your humble student,
Chris
Dear Christine,
The D’Alger cantaloupe has much the flavor of the modern musk melon but, perhaps, not quite so sweet but with a subtle perfume that is sensed by the nose as much as by the tongue. The Cushaw is flavored so much like the common pumpkin that a pie made from the former is nearly identical in taste, if somewhat lighter in color, than the latter.
Yr. humble servant, &c.
Wesley Greene