Marrow

Meanings of the marrow term

The term “marrow” always does not have a very precise direction in the current language. One can consider three levels of meanings:

in a broad meaning, “marrow” indicates many species the Cucurbitaceous ones, or more specifically their particular fruits which are Péponide S, large bay S with very many Pépin S and with skin coriace; it is often employed in competition with other more or less synonymous terms: Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Giraumon, Coloquinte, Water-bottle, even melon, Water melon, Concombre… like illustrates it the following list: List of the plants called marrows;
in more restricted meaning, which could be that of the botanists, “marrow” indicates the plants belonging to the kind Cucurbita , which gathers several species including four usually cultivated (in Europe in particular): the marrow itself, the Pumpkin, the musky Marrow and the Marrow of Siam;
in its most restricted meaning, the “marrows” are the plants belonging to the Espèce Cucurbita pepo which includes/understands many cultivated varieties, selected either like marrows of summer, which one consumes the green fruits (the Zucchini S), or as marrows of winter which one consumes the ripe fruits (marrows themselves and pumpkins), and who is the object of this article.

----

The term marrow is also employed familiarly, as well as Gourde or gourdasse, to designate an imbecile.

Etymology

The word “marrow” derives from Latin cucurbita , who also gave in French the word “gourd”. “Marrow” and “gourd” are in fact of the lexical doublets, appeared about the 14th century and which specialized tardily. Indeed the Old ones did not know our marrows introduced in Europe after the voyages of Christophe Colomb in America, but they for a very long time knew the gourds (or Calebasse S) of the kind Lagenaria , which are quoted under the name of cucurbita by Pline Old the in particular and which one finds under this name in the Capitulaire De Villis at the time of Charlemagne. Until the XVIIIe century, in France, the term “marrow” indicated the water-bottles, and it is only in the current of the XIXe century that it was essential to indicate our current marrows, i.e. the pumpkins and pumpkins, at the same time as stabilized botanical classification.

The Cucurbita kind

Species

The marrows, also called pumpkins or pumpkins in the everyday usage, belong to several Espèce S botanies belonging to the kind Cucurbita and equipped with an astonishing genetic variability, which is translated, at the fruits, by innumerable forms and colors and also a great diversity of sizes.

On the botanical level one distinguishes mainly among marrows most frequently cultivated in Europe, the following species, which one can distinguish, when one has only the fruit, with the characters from the stalk:

Cucurbita pepo : the Zucchini and the Pumpkin, the stalk is marked by coasts, at least five, and does not extend itself to the insertion point;
maximum Cucurbita : the Pumpkin, the stalk is round, of spongy espect, without marked coasts;
Cucurbita moschata : the musky marrow of Provence or the marrow Butternut, the stalk is marked by coasts, like that of C. pepo, but is extended clearly to the base;
Cucurbita argyrosperma , American marrow especially cultivated with the the United States
One can also announce Cucurbita ficifolia , species which includes/understands only one variety, the Courge of Siam, which resembles rather a Pastèque and has, like this one, of black seeds.

Varieties

With Cucurbita pepo , which is the most spread species by far, one can attach all the variety S of Zucchini S, like:

the pumpkin of Touraine , used to nourish the Bétail,
the Pâtisson S,
the marrow patidou or sweet dumpling , with the sweet chestnut fraiche savor which is eaten as well raw grated as cooked, or stuffed
the “spaghetti plant” (of which most famous is the Reine of the table ),
the marrow with oil which one eats the seeds,
the sugar marrow of Brazil, celebrates
the marbled melonnette of the Vendée
and it Jack' O Lantern that one and for Halloween…

cut out will dig

With maximum Cucurbita is attached:

the Pumpkin S (bright red of Stamps, yellow large of Paris, blue of Hungary, green olive, etc),
marrows of Hubbard, Hokkaïdo or Potimarron S, in form of pear,
the marrow “Marina de Chioggia”,
the scabious giraumon of Eysines, the Giraumon or variegated “Turkish turban”,
the marrow of Hubbard, marrows “ Buttercup ”,
and well of others, whose variety “giant Atlantic” which holds the world records cuts some with more than 300 kg.

Lastly, to Cucurbita moschata (musky marrows) is attached:

the musky marrow of Provence,
the sucrine of Berry,
the long marrow of Nice,
the Butternut marrow, etc

the Chayote or christophine, cultivated in the tropical areas, in particular to the Antilles, belongs to another species of Cucurbitaceous of a different kind: edible Sechium and has the effect of producing Tubercule S.

Distinctive characters
des principal cultivated marrow species

Collect and marketing

The marrows, also called marrows of winter, like much the cucurbitaceous ones, are collected with maturity, in Automne. Their conservation is relatively easy and allows a marketing until the Printemps. It is advisable to preserve them in a fresh room and to supervise them periodically. They are sensitive to the shocks and owe beings handled with precaution.

In the displays, one of most current is the “musky marrow of Provence”. Generally sold in sections, one easily recognizes it with his color characteristic of Terra cotta and with his corded form and dodue.

Production

Use

From the point of view of the Savor, one finds mainly Arôme S of dry fruits. Their flesh points out that of the Châtaigne S.
Elles is consumed of all kinds of ways. Soup with the Gratin, while passing by the tart S, but also like pastes: the marrow spaghetti whose filamentous flesh evokes the spaghettis.

Many are the existing receipts to reconcile itself with this vegetable too often popularized out of soup, without speaking about the sweetened desserts.

The marrow is a vegetable low in Calorie S which is appropriate for any food mode.

Nowadays one can find all kinds of derivative products and preparations containing marrow. For example, the Huile of marrow pip is used to relieve the benign disorders of the prostate and the seeds have as for them properties of Vermifugation (Ascariose and Ténia), to prevent the dental caries or to balance the unsaturated fatty-acids. Other products such as Soup S or Confiture S are marketed. The Australian group of music folk Totally Gourdgeous plays with instruments manufactured starting from marrows ( gourd in English).

Anecdotes

The novelist Agatha Christie, in the Petri prolog of humor of the Work of Hercules , appeared in collection in 1947, lent to her hero, the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, the intention to take her retirement to devote itself to the improvement of the taste of the marrows, to which it seemed possible to him to bring “a certain bouquet”.

Random links:

Breakdowns (Meurthe-et-Moselle) | Dania Ramírez | Chonchu | Langendorf | Turkey with the Winter Olympics of 2006