Introducing, Lady Godiva, an Austrian heirloom squash
that's cultivated for its hulless or naked seeds.
This squash is native to the Americas and has been
cultivated for thousands of years.
Ancient Aztecs and Mayans grew squash
for its flesh as well as for its seeds which are also known as pepitas.
Ancient Native Americans considered the pumpkin seed highly nutritious and medicinally powerful,
eating them to cure internal parasites and to heal the liver.
When Spanish conquistadors took squash from the new world back to Europe, they also
explained the medicinal and culinary properties it was known for.
Pumpkin seeds do indeed have medicinal qualities.
They are high in magnesium, a natural relaxant,
and tryptophan, a chemical that
converts to serotonin in the brain,
helping to improve sleep.
They are also replete with antioxidants,
essential fatty acids and vitamin E.
As the nutritious fruit crossed the globe,
different cultures selected for unique traits imparting their own fingerprint
onto each variety.
While many cultures focused on superior flavor or ornamental
appearance, a small region in Austria was interested in a different part of the
squash anatomy altogether--the seeds.
The ancient Maya were known to press pumpkin seeds
for oil to use in sauces.
Austrians shared this appreciation for the
nutritious and richly flavored pumpkin oil.
When the pumpkin made its way to Styria,
a mountainous forested state in Austria, farmers took a major interest in
growing pumpkins for their seeds.
It was here where the naked seeded pumpkin was born.
18th century Austrian Empress Maria Theresa
was so enraptured with the healthful pumpkin oil that she
proclaimed it as "unique and much too precious to be used as a culinary delicacy,"
instead directing that it be "collected and used only by the apothecaries."
Fortunately, pumpkin seed oil wasn't strictly relegated to
pharmaceutical use as Maria Theresa would have hoped, and it became a gourmet
culinary oil, highly regarded in European cuisine.
By the 1700s, the Styria region
was a hub for commercially produced pumpkin seed oil.
Austrian growers throughout the 18th century
selected for squash with especially high-quality
seeds for oil which made for fruit with thin flesh, a large seed cavity, and a high seed count
At first, pumpkin seed oil processing was a fussy business.
The tough outer seed coats or hulls had to be removed before the tender green inner
seeds could be pressed.
Then, in the late 1800s, Austrian growers noticed a chance
mutation that caused the usually tough outer seed coat to grow as thin and translucent.
They eagerly saved these seeds and created new varieties which
were dubbed "naked seeded pumpkins."
This happy breeding accident made pumpkin seed oil
even more popular in Europe.
Naked seeds are much easier and cheaper to process.
Styria is still a major producer of pumpkin seed oil and in
Austria, it's known as "green gold."
Lady Godiva squash is a beautiful variety
that ranges from 4-5 pounds with tasty flesh and a massive cavity full of pepitas.
And just like the true Lady Godiva, the seeds are quite...
... naked.