On December 3, 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered the first pumpkin fields.

27 years later Gaspar de Espinosa wrote in his travel reports about Panama: "... the South American Indians' melons I found are bigger and more delicious than the ones I've seen in all kingdoms before...".

So the pumpkin was the first vegetable to come to Europe from overseas. Corn, tomatoes, potatoes and other fruits found their way to the "Old World" much later.

Yet only recently the pumpkin has stopped living in the shadows and has become integrated into our home cuisine and acknowledged by modern medicine too.