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Delicious, nutritious and healthy pumpkins
A pumpkin ( Cucurbita spp.) is an annual herbaceous trailing or clustered plant of Cucurbitaceae. It is an excellent vegetable because it contains high nutrition (rich in starch, minerals and vitamins A, B1, niacin and vitamin C) and the color is bright and beautiful. Mature pumpkins could last for long-term storage and withstand transport, which could overcome the problem of vegetable shortages in the summer of Taiwan. Therefore, regulation of market demand, supply and diversity of summer vegetables in Taiwan can be improved through supplies of pumpkins. There are many ways to eat pumpkins, for example, pumpkin pie, sweet and salty pumpkin cakes, fried pumpkin rice noodles, pumpkin soup and pumpkin soy milk and so on. Furthermore, pumpkins are good for health. Thus, it is worth promoting cultivation of pumpkins.
It was said by Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station, Council of Agriculture that pumpkins are few and mainly sporadically cultivated in Taiwan regarded as rough foods. The production in quality and quantity dose not meet the requirement, mainly due to old varieties with poor pulp quality. Recently, new cultivars have been imported and the annual cultivation area has exceeded 3,500 hectares. Pumpkins are cultivated most in Hualien (530 hectares) , the east of Taiwan, and followed by Chiayi, Yunlin, Tainan (a total of 1,300 hectares) and Pingtung (400 hectares). More than 55,000 metric tons are produced per year.
Among different pumpkin species ( Cucurbita maxima , Cucurbita moschata and Cucurbita pepo L. ), Cucurbita maxima , which was imported from Japan, is the top one choice for cooking due to its soft texture(therefore, it was also called chestnut pumpkin). In recent years, we have also developed several new varieties and the cultivated area has increased every year. Most of these are not pest- and/or disease-resistant, therefore, the fruit set would be low. However, some solutions such as to cultivate in net house or plant these varieties in the cold season to avoid melon fruit flies, and spread of viruses through insects could improve the production.
Traditionally cultivated type in Taiwan is papaya-type pumpkin, which is more pest- and/or disease-resistant, belongs to Cucurbita moschata , occupying the most cultivated area in Taiwan. They are usually used for pastry soup and cake processing because the fruit has poor texture and containing lots of water. Varieties breeding programs have now been applied and tried to improve their fruit quality. Cucurbita pepo was domesticated by the Europe and called ‘summer squash’ and ‘zucchini’ by the United States and China. People usually eat the tender fruits of Cucurbita pepo and it is also a very common and important fruit vegetable in the Europe and America, which has become more and more popular in Taiwan recently. It can be consumed as salad, stir-fried or in a soup format.
Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station, Council of Agriculture pointed out that ‘After introduction of new varieties from foreign countries and applications of intensive breeding programs for several years, the fruit quality of pumpkins has been improved tremendously. Along with the development of new recipes, pumpkin-related dishes have become specialties in many restaurants. All kinds of pumpkins are accessible through supermarkets or traditional markets. Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station execute breeding programs to develop new varieties for Cucurbita maxima in recent years, and will supply to industries and general public with more options and accessibilities for pumpkin-related products.
▲Fig1. Early cultivation of pumpkins in plastic tunnel shed over the winter in Central and South Taiwan. |
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