[tosca100]

I know there are some enthusiasts on here, but apart from a few (butternut, orange, patty pan, turban) I have not really met many before. How do you know what is what, and does it matter what you do with them? Today I have roasted the one in pic 1, which is very similar to butternut, and it yielded over 2 kilos of pulp to go in the freezer as well as a lovely spicy soup for lunch.


The others are all shapes and sizes. We are lucky (so far) in that we have only been passed fourteen from the mountain collected from our patch, more than enough as OH tells me this is the smaller one. The others weigh more. How long will they keep in the cellar? I had better start looking for recipes. They only use them sweet here, and most are fed to the pigs next door.

 We have been given four bottles of 'confiture' to add to our hundreds of bottles of stuff in the cellar. It seems it is just a few cubes of pumpkin/squash in sugar syrup and they float to the top third of the jar.

[mumofstig]

Lurverly 

They can all be cooked in the same ways ...... stuffed, roasted, souped, in risotto, in pasta sauces, in bread, in cakes and in veg bakes, in stews/casseroles 
Also think cougette recipes....

They should keep for months as long as they don't freeze in your winter 

[New shoot]

Squash and pumpkin cross polinate quite readily, so you could have some mixes there 

Squash tends to have harder, dryer flesh and the flavours vary in nuttiness and sweetness, but as MoS says, they're all good.  Pumpkin has wetter flesh and falls apart more on cooking, so great for soup, puree or adding to bread.

Jamie Oliver did a lovely looking dish on his recent shows over here.  Had me drooling 

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/squash-spinach-pasta-rotolo

Any of the squash and pumpkin family go well with spices as well, so I would add curries and veggie chillies to your recipe list 

[rowan57]

No such thing as a Squash or a Pumpkin, they are colloquial names used differently the world over. 'Winter Squash' tends to refer to anything Moschata (Butternut) or Maxima that is harvested in the autumn for winter eating. Pepo (Courgettes, Marrows etc.) don't generally store so well, most 'Halloween Pumpkins' are Pepo and have poor eating qualities generally speaking.

The easiest way to identify the species is by the stem type, Maxima have smooth/corky round 'handles', Pepo are heavily ridged and can be hairy/spiny and Moschata (Butternut) are flattened where they join the fruit.

Everything you have is likely to be edible, but the quality of eating will vary and are very subjective. I prefer a firm, sweet, dry flesh and cannot stand Pepo (Courgettes, 'Halloween Pumpkins') but others enjoy them.

[New shoot]

No such thing as a Squash or a Pumpkin, they are colloquial names used differently the world over.

Agreed, but as predominantly UK based home gardeners we do use the colloquial names of our fruit and veg, so squash and pumpkin mean specific crops to us and to Tosca, who has just moved to Bulgaria from the UK 

Interesting info on how to ID each type by the stems 

[NickoV]

No such thing as a Squash or a Pumpkin, they are colloquial names used differently the world over. 'Winter Squash' tends to refer to anything Moschata (Butternut) or Maxima that is harvested in the autumn for winter eating. Pepo (Courgettes, Marrows etc.) don't generally store so well, most 'Halloween Pumpkins' are Pepo and have poor eating qualities generally speaking.

The easiest way to identify the species is by the stem type, Maxima have smooth/corky round 'handles', Pepo are heavily ridged and can be hairy/spiny and Moschata (Butternut) are flattened where they join the fruit.

Everything you have is likely to be edible, but the quality of eating will vary and are very subjective. I prefer a firm, sweet, dry flesh and cannot stand Pepo (Courgettes, 'Halloween Pumpkins') but others enjoy them.

Good post Rowan, and I agree with New Shoot.


The fact that maxima, moschata and pepo do not cross can be used to our advantage when saving seed.
If you grow for instance, Crown Prince and a butternut as winter squash, and then a courgette. They will not cross with each other. They might cross with a neighbours though, which is a different issue. Back to manual pollination in that case, to save seed.

[mumofstig]

 maxima, moschata and pepo can cross pollinate - I often use courgette flowers to pollinate my winter squash 

http://www3.ag.purdue.edu/counties/allen/Documents/Hort%20ACH31%20Cross%20Pollination%20in%20Cucurbits.pdf

[NickoV]

Thats interesting.
In the Book 'Seed to Seed' by Suzanne Ashworth, a book often quoted as 'the bible of all seed savers', she specifically states they do not cross, and that this is a good reason to grow each sort together.
This is repeated in Carol Deppe's  book, 'Breed your own Vegetables'. Carol has a PhD in biology and specialises in plant genetics.

I haven't done an extensive online search for evidence supporting either view. Did you find much apart from the link you gave mum?

[NickoV]

Done a bit more research and everything points towards them not crossing apart from that one link.
Here is a couple:
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/saving-seeds-for-next-season
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/members/seed_saving/ssg13_curcubits.php

[mumofstig]

The pdf comes from purdue University, and as I've said I use male courgette flowers when hand pollinating.

and photo evidence from DD.
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=25517.msg301469#msg301469

Real Seeds also note how promiscuous they are
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/wintersquash.html

[NickoV]

I hope to grow one variety each of maxima,  pepo, and moshcata  next year so it is really important to me that I am right    I struggle to do the whole isolation thing so am trying to make my life easy. I don't live near any other keen gardeners so might get away with it.
In terms of your winter squash mum:
Do you use un opened female flowers from your winter squash and then close them with a band after pollinating with a male flower from a courgette, so no other pollen can get in?
If you don't do this then they may just be being instect pollinated from the same parent plant( or a neighbours) even though you have hand pollinated with a courgette flower.
Are your winter squash definitely not Pepo? If they are Pepo then they will pollinate and produce fruit you recognise , but if you save seed from that fruit, it will likely be a monster 

The mutant pictures are understandable because both courgettes and 'pumpkins' are pepo. I too have bred similar crazy squash.

I think I will email Vicki Cook at the Heritage Seed library, or Ben at the real seed catalogue just to make sure. I don't want to embark on a seed saving programme that spans 2 years just to breed a bunch of mutant ninja curcurbits!!  Although I have a feeling they will both reach for the books I have mentioned for the answer 

[mumofstig]

both courgettes and 'pumpkins' are pepo

If you look at the table not all pumpkins are pepo.................  a lot of them are maxima.

I only use the courgette flowers when there are no other male flowers available to pollinate the flowers, but no I don't tie the flowers up because I'm after fruits rather than saving seeds. The squash are grown in the garden, with no other pumpkins growing nearby, so I'm convinced that they do crosspollinate.

[NickoV]

 so I'm convinced that they do crosspollinate.

I can see this clearly Mumofstig. and I am pretty sure I am not going to convince you otherwise.

I admit I haven't tried to save seed in the way I have described, but am planning to next year, even with the shadow of doubt you have cast on on the soundness of my plan. 
I won't know if it has worked until a year after that so if I am still around I shall post my findings then.

Here is the description by the Real Seed Catalogue about the seed saving book I got my information from 
 "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth.(ISBN 1882424581).
This is the new edition, and a brilliant vegetable seed-saving book. An invaluable resource, we use it constantly. Used as the standard reference by the Seed Savers Exchange. It will tell you simply and clearly what you need to do to save seed of any veg you care to mention using materials you have at home. Most of our seed-saving instructions that you get with your seeds are based on her advice.