Pumpkin belongs to one of the oldest known crops. The earliest evidence of seeds comes from Mexico (7500 BC).
But it was nowhere near the tasty vibrant variaty we have today. Due to their small size and bitter taste, they were used mainly for their seeds.
Crops-plodiny
Evidence-stopy, známky
BC (before Christ)-před Kristem
Varienty-odrůda
Due to-kvůli, vzhledem k
The pumpkin is a type of squash. Squash is generally devided into two groups.
Just to give you an idea, among summer squash, there is zucchini and yellow squash.
Squash-tykev
Devided into- dělí se na
Winter squash has hard skin that is usually not eaten.The advantage of winter squash like butternut and pumpkin is that they store well for longer periods of time. It was an important source of nutrients in the cold winter months when food was hard to come by. The term pumpkin generally refers to the category of winter squash.
Advantage of-výhoda
Store-uchovávat
Source of nutrients-zdroj živin
Hard to come by-těžko k sehnání
Refere to-odkazovat na
From Mexico, the pumpkin spread through America and was grown by the indigenous people together with corn and beans. These staples were called the three sisters. They also used pumpkins as medicine and to make mats.
Columbus and other European explorers brought pumpkin seeds back to Europe.
By the 17th century it was known as the poor man’s food or food for animals.
Spread-rozšířit se
Indigenous people-původní obyvatelé
Staples-základní potraviny
Mats-rohože
Explorer-badatel, cestovatel
Poor man’s food-jídlo pro chudé
Pumpkin pie is popular to this day but its early form was a bit different. The pumpkins were hollowed, the shells were filled with spices, milk and honey and then roasted by the fire.
Hollowed-vydlabané
Shells-slupky
Pumpkins are associated with Halloween and Thanksgiving from the middle of the 19th century. To create an outdoor or indoor decoration the top of the pumpkin is cut off and a funny or scary face is carved into the rind. When a candle is placed inside the hollow interior it creates the effect of a lantern. This so called Jack o'lantern was supposed to repel evil spirits during the Halloween.
Associated with-spojovány s
Rind-kůra
Lantern-svítilna
Was supposed to-mělo, předpokládalo se, že
Repel-odpuzovat
The fascinating tradition of Halloween pumkin, or Jack o'lantern, is a chapter on its own. It is a great new article in waiting.
A chapter on its own-kapitola sama o sobě
In waiting-v přípravě