The giraumon

Variety of edible gourd

Following the example of Parmentier (1737-1813) that published in 1781 a treatise : “Research on nutritious vegetables that in times of shortage might replace usual food“, people tried to find new food. Parmentier proposed to transform potatoes into a sort of starch with a machine he invented. Others invented machines to transform the famous tuber into vermicelli.

Niépce for his part, tried to extract nutrious starch from a type of gourd, the “giraumon”, also known as the “turkish bonnet to which it resembles in an astonishing way. “We ate many times of this starch that we found very good and very light” declared Nicéphore.