The History Of Squash
Host Kae Sprung welcomes Chef Crystal Wahpepah to discuss the history of squash, and why squash is her favorite food, highlighting winter varieties like Hubbard and its versatility in sweet and savory dishes, including chocolate squash pudding, roasted squash, and squash soup thickened with blended pumpkin seeds as a dairy alternative. They explore eating squash raw through drying and dehydrating (including oven-drying at low temperature), and emphasize using the whole plant, flesh, skin, and seeds, while saving seeds for replanting as a long Native practice.
The episode traces squash (Cucurbita) as one of the oldest domesticated plants in the Americas, with early domestication in Mesoamerica 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, its spread across North America, and its role in the Three Sisters system with corn and beans, plus nonfood uses of gourds. They cover European adoption via the Columbian Exchange, cultural symbolism such as the Hopi squash blossom hairstyle, and modern pop culture moments from jack o lanterns to the Pumpkin Spice Latte and record sized pumpkins.
You can follow and support this week's guest, Crystal Wahpepah here:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/767628/a-feather-and-a-fork-by-crystal-wahpepah-with-amy-paige-condon/ [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/767628/a-feather-and-a-fork-by-crystal-wahpepah-with-amy-paige-condon/]
https://www.instagram.com/crystalwahpepah/ [https://www.instagram.com/crystalwahpepah/]
https://www.instagram.com/harmonyrodaleconvergent/ [https://www.instagram.com/harmonyrodaleconvergent/]
See behind the scenes photos and video here: http://instagram.com/sprungonfood [http://instagram.com/sprungonfood]
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Website: http://katherinesprung.com [http://katherinesprung.com/]
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About the show:
Sprung On Food is a digital and podcast series, hosted by Katherine "Kae" Sprung, an award-winning pastry chef and food and media entrepreneur. This season, we're talking about favorite foods- the history behind them and the role they play in the world today. Each episode features a special guest to talk about their favorite food, and help comment on the historical origins and pop-cultural and modern society moments tied to that food. Its food history meets food pop-culture, a dose of education, with sprinkles of comedy.
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00:00 Why Squash
00:58 Favorite Varieties
02:04 Sweet Squash Desserts
03:21 Savory Soups and Roasting
05:12 What Is Squash
07:08 Drying and Squash Jerky
09:37 Origins and Domestication
11:28 Seeds and Farm Wisdom
15:17 Three Sisters and Uses
16:56 Corn Beyond Food
20:10 Europe and Cultural Symbolism
25:54 Modern Squash Today
28:01 Healing Through Food
30:19 Squash in Pop Culture
33:02 Final Thoughts and Goodbye
