Summer Squash: History, Diversity, and Distribution
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squash may have been consumed ini- tially. To this day, fruit that appear to have been harvested between 1 and 2 weeks after anthesis can be found in markets in Mexico. Summer squash are picked when they are shiny, up to 1 week after anthesis. Dull fruit are generally unsal- able. Although summer squash can be harvested over a wide range of sizes, from <50 g to >400 g, the acceptable size range is a function of the market demand, which is in turn a function of the interaction of fruit shape with the preferred methods of culinary prepara- tion used by the consumers of the ummer squash are the ed- region. The acceptable size range can Summer Squash: ible young (several days past be quite narrow, and it differs among History, S anthesis) fruit of Cucurbita markets. pepo, a highly diverse species. An easy- Cucurbita, a New World genus Diversity, and to-grow, short-season crop, summer (Whitaker, 1947) of the gourd family, squash is adapted to temperate and Cucurbitaceae, contains five cultivated Distribution subtropical climates and is grown in species. Cucurbita pepo is the most many regions. According to FAO sta- diverse of these species, consisting of tistics (Fruit and Vegetable Markets, wild forms in the United States and Harry S. Paris1 1992), the worldwide production of Mexico previously classified as sepa- summer squash exceeded 6,300,000 rate species, C. texana Gray and C. metric tons per annum during the late fraterna Bailey, respectively, as well as 1980s. More recent figures from a many of the pumpkins and ornamental Additional index words. pumpkin, marrow, Cucurbita pepo variety of regional and local reports gourds, the acorn squash, and summer indicate that production and per capita squash. Summary. Summer squash (Cucurbita consumption of summer squash have Various terms have been used in- pepo L.) is grown in many temperate risen sharply during the past decade. terchangeably for the many forms of and subtropical regions, ranking high Not only has the cultivation of sum- C. pepo, but the uses of these terms in economic importance among mer squash expanded markedly in often have not been faithful to the vegetable crops worldwide. A native of countries in which the crop is familiar, original meanings. This has resulted in North America, summer squash has it also has spread to regions where some confusion, which hopefully can been grown in Europe since the heretofore summer squash was either a be reduced or resolved here. Renaissance. There are six extant minor crop or not grown. While the The term pumpkin is rooted in a horticultural groups of summer squash: cocozelle, crookneck, scallop, United States and Mexico, the two Greek and Latin word for a large, straightneck, vegetable marrow, and countries to which C. pepo is native, are round fruit, whereas squash comes from zucchini. Most of these groups have two of the largest producers of sum- the plural form of a native North Ameri- existed for hundreds of years. Their mer squash, the countries of the Medi- can word for something immature or differing fruit shapes result in their terranean and Middle East, led by Tur- incomplete. Therefore, the term pump- differential adaptations to various key, Italy, and Egypt, are responsible kin is to be applied to edible Cucurbita methods of culinary preparation. for one-third of the world’s produc- fruit that are round or nearly round Differences in flavor, while often tion. A conservative estimate of the (spherical, oval, obovate, globe, flat subtle, are readily apparent in some worldwide value of the summer squash globe, oblate, flat oblate, etc.), whereas instances. The groups differ in geo- crop is several billion dollars annually, the term squash should be applied to graphical distribution and economic therefore, summer squash ranks high edible Cucurbita fruit deviating greatly importance. The zucchini group, a relatively recent development, has in economic importance among veg- from roundness. With the exceptions undergone intensive breeding in the etable crops. described later, pumpkins almost al- United States and Europe and is The immature fruit of various ways are consumed when mature. All probably by far the most widely grown cucurbits have been used for culinary C. pepo squash, except for acorn squash and economically important of the purposes indifferent parts of the world. and a few unique cultivars such as summer squash. Consumption of immature C. pepo fruit ‘Delicata’, are consumed when imma- was probably not the first use of this ture. 1Department of Vegetable Crops, Agricultural Research Organization, Newe Ya’ar Research Center, P.O. Box species when it was domesticated thou- The term zucchini is the diminu- 90000, Haifa 31-900, Israel. sands of years ago. Nonetheless, the tive plural of the Italian zucca for pump- Contribution no. 1597-E from the Agricultural Research culinary use of young C. pepo fruit is an kin, squash, or gourd. Zucchini ap- Organization, Bet Dagan, Israel. The cost of publishing this ancient practice (Cutler and Whitaker, plies to cylindrically shaped fruit, simi- paper was defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. Under postal regulations, this paper therefore must be hereby 1961). Fruit larger and more mature lar to those of the original cultivars marked advertisement solely to indicate this fact. than those we refer to today as summer bearing the name zucchini (Tapley et 6 HortTechnology · Jan./Mar. 1996 6(1) Table 1. Extant horticultural groups of summer squash (Paris, 1986). Group Fruit shape Scallop Flattened, with scalloped margins Crookneck Elongated, with narrow, long, slightly to very curved neck, broad distal half, convex distal end Straightneck Cylindrical, with short neck or constriction near the stem end and a broad distal half, convex or pointed distal end Vegetable Short, tapered, cylindrical, narrow at stem end, marrow broad at distal end, length-to-broadest width ratio ranging ii-em 1.5 to 3.0 Cocozelle Long to extremely long slightly tapered cylindrical, bulbous near blossom end, length-to-broadest width ratio ranging from 3.5 to 8.0 or even higher zucchini Uniformly cylindrical, little or no taper, length-to-broadest width ratio usually from 3.5 to 4.5 al., 1937). The term cocozelle is the On the basis of genetic relation- of C. pepo are pollinated by bees, cross diminutive of cocuzza, which itself is ships, C. pepo has been subdivided into with one another freely, and produce an Italian dialect inversion of zucca. two subspecies, pepo arid ovifera, the fully fertile offspring, it is amazing that Cocuzza applies to the extremely long- former appearing to be associated with most of the summer squash groups fruited forms of Lagenaria, which are a Mexican origin and the latter with an have maintained their identity for hun- used in Sicily and other parts of Italy origin in the eastern half of the United dreds of years. for culinary purposes when young, States (Decker, 1988 ). Six extant hor- In the scallop group (syn. ‘Patty about 50 cm long (Bianchini and ticultural groups of summer squash Pan’, ‘Custard’, ‘Cymling’, ‘Patisson’, Corbetta, 1976). Cocozelle applies to have been recognized on the basis of ‘Button’), the fruit are flat, with scal- long fruit of lesser dimensions. The fruit shape (Paris, 1986; Table 1; Fig. loped margins (Fig. 2). The history of term marrow is used for edible C. pepo 1). Of these six, the vegetable marrow, this group in Europe dates to the fruit about 2 weeks past anthesis. It cocozelle, and zucchini groups can be middle of the 16th century (Paris, was a 19th-century English custom to assigned to subspecies pepo and the 1989). The scallop was represented by eat fruit of this age, and the term scallop, crookneck, and straightneck at least three distinct forms, one of marrow is perhaps in allusion to bone groups to subspecies ovifera. which was the ‘Golden Bush Scallop’ marrow (Stuart, 1987). The term veg- Their distinct fruit shapes allow cultivar or very similar form. The two etable marrow is the ii-all, original name the summer squash groups to be iden- others were vining forms having fruit for marrow. I prefer to reserve veg- tified easily in even some of the earliest resembling those of the ‘Yellow Bush etable marrow for referring to summer illustrated botanical works. Much of Scallop’ and ‘White Bush Scallop’ cul- squash forms having fruit of the short, the early historical record of Cucur- tivars. The use of immature C. pepo by tapered cylindrical shape similar to that bita is indeed from botanical herbals native Americans of the Atlantic Coast of the English forms that were used as (Paris, 1989). One of the most note- was described in the mid-17th cen- marrows. worthy of these tomes, because of the Perhaps in the Cucurbitaceae in abundance of realistic, quality illustra- general, more so in the genus Cucur- tions of various forms and therefore Fig. 1. An array of summer squash fruit bita, and very definitely so in C. pepo, perhaps best summarizing the Renais- arranged according to the six extant horticultural groups. Left to right top row: there is an association between the sance depictions of C. pepo, is the com- cocozelle, crookneck, scallop; bottom row: length-to-width ratio and the stage of pilation of Chabrey (1666). As all forms straightneck, vegetable marrow, zucchini. development at which the fruit is used for culinary purposes (Paris, 1989). Pumpkins as well as acorn squash have a near 1:1 length-to-width ratio and, with certain exceptions, are consumed when mature. Vegetable marrows de- viate from this ratio, originally being used when about half-grown. Zuc- chini, which deviate more, are used only when young. Cocozelles, which deviate even more, are used when young or very young, with the corolla still attached.