We all talk about the important roles played by the bees and butterflies in aiding pollination.Without these delicate insects, bio diversity on our planet, with regard to the plant and animal kingdom will cease to exist. While such write ups do create awareness, it’s not always that people understand just how much of an impact it has directly on each of our lives.
We all talk about the important roles played by the bees and butterflies in aiding pollination.Without these delicate insects, bio diversity on our planet, with regard to the plant and animal kingdom will cease to exist. While such write ups do create awareness, it’s not always that people understand just how much of an impact it has directly on each of our lives.
Let me share a story that will resonate closer to home. What I will always remember is the profound impact I felt on growing and nurturing a pumpkin patch in our front yard.
Along with growing other veggies, we decided to sow some yellow pumpkin seeds. Until then I knew little about growing gourds aside from the fact that they were usually creepers. As we waited, the shoots came and soon the large variegated leaves began to cover the ground.Soon enough, long yellow blossoms began to unfurl themselves in between the tendrils. A few weeks later, it was with dismay that we noticed one of the flowers begining to wither away! How could this be, we wondered…where was the fruit ?
After reading up on ‘how to grow pumpkins’, the concept of the male and female flowers began to make more sense. The first flowers that bloomed were the male flowers, the female flowers would follow later and would turn into pumpkins only after pollination. If left un-pollinated the female flower would wither after a short period of two days. So the little critters did have their work cut out for them.
I also read about manual pollination on an American website.It did not appeal to my sensibilities whatsoever. No way did we want to grow vegetables or fruits by resorting to unnecessary human intervention. As we kept a watch on the creepers throughout the day, we saw absolutely no bug activity. It did cast a bit of a gloom on my pumpkin patch. Two days later we were astonished to see the tell tale bulge at the base of a female flower, showing indeed that a baby pumpkin was on it’s way.
The next day we visited the pumpkin patch at sunrise. Dawn had just broken and cast a rosy glow on the ground.And the sight that met our eyes was most incredible. We were witness to a great deal of buzzing activity as bees both small and big and tiny butterflies were busy flitting from one flower to another. Clearly early mornings were when these are at their busy pollinating best !
Thereafter each pumpkin that came out of that patch was treated with such reverence and respect. How many of us even know what effort it takes to be able to eat a serving of a delicious paringikkai kootu or a roasted pumpkin soup or my all time favourite, the simple arasanikkai poriyal. It’s such a special feeling to eat produce that is so carefully nurtured by the earth, sun and other living creatures that co-exist with us on this planet.
The task of making the arasanikkai poriyal is something that I share with no one else. The sweet yellow pumpkin is cut into cubes and set aside. A quick tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves, white urad dhal and dried red chillies in either ghee or nallennai is mixed into the pumpkin cubes and allowed to marinate for 10 minutes. Then the mixture is tipped into a medium sized kadai, salt, a generous helping of jaggery and chilli powder are added. Once mixed it is covered and left to cook on a low flame for about 10-12 minutes. The lid is opened every few minutes to stir and prevent the pieces from sticking to the bottom of the vessel.
The dish is ready when the cubes turn soft and squishy and the edges begin to loosen and glisten. The elders in our family love to mix this into hot rice with a dollop of home made ghee. For me this sweet/spicy poriyal is best relished alongside a helping of curd rice. Apart from the taste, the burnished colours of this dish make it just as appetising. As we end this special pumpkin patch tale it is with the hope that it will inspire you to grow your own!