Leonis Adobe Museum - Share the Legend

Maize or corn has been the foundation for many great cultures in the New World, including those of the Inca, Maya and Aztec civilizations. Blue corn is one of the most unique corns found in the Southwestern United States. Blue corn is still an important element in Native American religious rituals.

Most blue corns grown in the Southwest are flour corns. The kernels are made of soft, floury endosperm covered by a hard shell. A thin layer of the outer cells contain blue pigment, giving the corn its color. Blue corn often is ground into various flours or meals. These flours or meals are then used to make tortillas and chips. Nixtamalization is a traditional Latin American and Native American method of processing blue corn and other flour corns into tortillas. The kernels are boiled in a lime solution of juniper ash and water for a short period, then allowed to steep overnight. Then the drained corn is washed to remove the loose seed coats. The mash or nixtamal is then ground into flour to make dough for tortillas.

It is generally accepted that Calabasas means "pumpkin," "squash," or "gourd," derived from the Spanish calabaza. Some historians hold the theory that Calabasas is a translation of the Chumash word calahoosa.

Naming places by association was an old Indian custom. According to local legend Calabasas received it's name thanks to a Basque ranchero form Oxnard named Antonio Jauregui. In 1824 Antonio was taking a load of pumpkins to Los Angeles. As he reached this area, the horses were suddenly frightened by a rattlesnake in the road. The horses reared upward and the wagon turned over spilling his pumpkins all over the road. The following spring the seeds from the broken pumpkins sprouted hundreds of pumpkin plants. When speaking of the area it was known as "las Calabazas" the place where the pumpkins fell.

In keeping with our heritage, the Leonis Adobe plants a small pumpkin patch each spring. Visitors are able to watch the pumpkins grow throughout the summer and help carve them in October at our annual pumpkin party.