See Calabasas

Calabasas, California

Calabasas is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California in the western United States. It is located in the hills in the southwestern San Fernando Valley and the Santa Monica Mountains between Woodland Hills, Agoura Hills, West Hills, and Malibu, California. As of the 2010 census, the city...

 for the city in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

Calabaza is a term that can be applied to a variety of gourd

Gourd

A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...

s and melon

Melon

thumb|200px|Various types of melonsThis list of melons includes members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit e.g. gourds or cucurbits. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit...

s grown throughout the world.

Etymology

The word calabaza is derived from the Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 term for melon (kharbuz). The French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 term "calabasse", and hence "calabash" is based on the older Spanish. In common use the French term "calabash" refers to a gourd native to the African continent, while "calabaza" refers to a gourd native to the Americas. In North America, the word "calabaza" refers to any of several species of tropical gourds of the genus Cucurbita

Cucurbita

Cucurbita is a genus in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae first cultivated in Mesoamerica and now used in many parts of the world. It includes species grown for their fruit and edible seeds , as well as some species grown only as gourds...

. Two common species native to the Caribbean are C. moschata

Cucurbita moschata

Cucurbita moschata is a species originating in either Central America or northern South America. It includes varieties of squash and pumpkin. C. moschata varieties are generally more tolerant of hot, humid weather than C. maxima or C. pepo. They also generally display a greater...

and C. maxima

Cucurbita maxima

Cucurbita maxima, one of at least five species of cultivated squash, is one of the most diverse domesticated species, perhaps with more cultivated forms than any other crop. This species originated in South America from the wild C. maxima ssp. andreana over 4000 years ago...

. The widespread species C. foetidissima

Cucurbita foetidissima

Cucurbita foetidissima is a xerophytic tuberous plant found in the southwestern USA and northwestern Mexico. A member of the cucumber family, the fruit is consumed by humans and animals. The fruit is eaten cooked like a squash when very young...

specifically identifies "calabaza" as one of its common names. The Spanish "calabacera frasco" [literal translation; bottle-shaped gourd] refers specifically to C. foetidissima. Local names for "large green or yellow gourds" include "auyama" (Venezuela, Colombia), "ayote" (Central America), "abóbora" (Brazil), and "zapallo" much of South America.

History

First cultivated for food in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...

 as one of the "three sisters

Three Sisters (agriculture)

The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of various Native American groups in North America: squash, maize, and climbing beans ....

" of squash, maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, and climbing beans (typically tepary beans or common beans). From Mesoamerica, it is believed to have spread to other regions via Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 colonial

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 influence. Cucurbita maxima

Cucurbita maxima

Cucurbita maxima, one of at least five species of cultivated squash, is one of the most diverse domesticated species, perhaps with more cultivated forms than any other crop. This species originated in South America from the wild C. maxima ssp. andreana over 4000 years ago...

and Cucurbita moschata

Cucurbita moschata

Cucurbita moschata is a species originating in either Central America or northern South America. It includes varieties of squash and pumpkin. C. moschata varieties are generally more tolerant of hot, humid weather than C. maxima or C. pepo. They also generally display a greater...

, in particular, are well-known in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 under the name "kalabasa".

Cultivars

Cultivated species produce gourds in a variety of shapes. However all are creeping, annual tropical vines with large lobed leaves and branching tendrils. The skin color reflects hybrids, varying from dark green to light yellow. The flesh can also vary in color, but most common is bright orange or yellow. Varieties differ somewhat in taste and texture, but are generally slightly sweet with a firm but soft texture. Farmer's markets in South America offer varieties of calabaza in a fashion similar to the variety of apples that might be present in a North American market.

Uses

It is eaten many different ways, such as in stew

Stew

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...

s, cake

Cake

Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...

s, and candies

Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...

. Some recipe

Recipe

A recipe is a set of instructions that describe how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.-Components:Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components*The name of the dish...

s that call for pumpkin allow calabaza to be used in its place. The taste is smooth and somewhat sweet. Calabaza is a good source of Vitamin A

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...

.

The flower (squash blossom, flor de calabaza), is used as an ingredient in quesadilla

Quesadilla

A quesadilla is a flour or corn tortilla filled with a savoury mixture containing cheese and other ingredients, then folded in half to form a half-moon shape. This dish originated in Mexico, and the name is derived from the Spanish word queso ....

s, empanadas and other dishes in Mexican cuisine

Mexican cuisine

Mexican cuisine, a style of food that originates in Mexico, is known for its varied flavors, colourful decoration and variety of spices and ingredients, most of which are native to the country. The cuisine of Mexico has evolved through thousands of years of blending indigenous cultures, with later...

 and New Mexican cuisine

New Mexican cuisine

New Mexican cuisine is a regional cuisine found in New Mexico, reflecting the regional climate and long history as part of the Native American, Mexican, Spanish and United States cultures. This form of southwest cuisine is most popular in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and California...

, and in pupusa

Pupusa

A pupusa is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of thick, hand-made corn tortilla that is usually filled with a blend of the following: cheese , cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency...

s in Salvadoran cuisine

Cuisine of El Salvador

Salvadoran cuisine is a style of cooking derived from the nation of El Salvador. The traditional cuisine consists of food from the Maya, Lenca, Pipil, and Spanish peoples...

.

The seeds, toasted and seasoned, known as pepitas

Pepitas

Pepita is a Spanish culinary term for the pumpkin seed, the edible seed of a pumpkin or other cultivar of squash . The seeds are typically rather flat and asymmetrically oval, and light green in color inside a white hull...

, are a common snack.