A strip snaps when bent between the fingers: drying has reached its endpoint. In Aquilonia, corresce turn white squash flesh into thin ribbons dried in the sun. Regione Campania describes them as fibrous and brittle. The whole squash already seems a distant image; in its place are ribbons to handle with care.
Before that comes the knife work. The described harvest runs from late June to mid-September; the squashes are peeled, emptied of seeds and sliced by hand into strips only a few millimetres thick. The seeds stay in the story, dried and kept for the following year’s planting. One part of the squash changes shape; another waits to begin again.
The account describes a household preparation for family use, kept in glass containers or bags. There is no need to picture a large workshop. Its most telling detail remains that test between the fingers: a small gesture precise enough to mark the passage from fresh squash to the pantry.