Originally exported from France to Tudor England, the pompion described a round and large fruit. Originating from the Greek word “pepon” the term literally means large melon. It quickly found its way onto the local menus as the pumpkin was relatively hardy and flourished even in English weather. It is mentioned in one of the earliest English dictionaries (compiled by Thomas Elyot in 1538) as a kind of melon.
The first time pumpkin was ever mentioned in reference to America was in a text by Nathaniel Ward, a Puritan minister from England who came to Massachusetts in 1634 where he participated in writing the first constitution in North America. He describes the rigid Puritan world view in an ostensible allegory titled The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam in America (1647). In the narrative he describes the Americans as having “pumpkin-blasted brains”. At almost exactly the same time, the word is used in a Maryland court document from a case involving pumpkin vines being damaged by pigs.
The pumpkin had a long way to go before becoming one of the most popular crops in the United States. Some 350 million pounds of it are produced every year now and the crop has become a key element in two fall celebrations – in the form of pumpkin lanterns for Halloween and as pumpkin pie for every Thanksgiving dinner.
