[Gardener and Rabbit]

Have grown some Red Kuri squash this year for the first time. 

The plants & squashes have reached a decent size (and the stalks have gone woody) but after roasting the first one tonight it tasted so awful we threw it away. Any ideas why please, and are the rest likely to improve with time?

[LotuSeed]

Awful tasting how? Was it the flavor of the flesh itself or was the texture off? Was the skin is supposed to be notoriously hard to cut through when they are mature. Was that the case with yours?  How did you cook it?

[Gardener and Rabbit]

Roasted it whole, then cut it up. It looked fine, and the texture was fine, it was just the taste.

[surbie100]

How long ago did you pick it? Squashes tend to improve in flavour in storage so I wouldn't normally eat mine until a month - 6 weeks after I'd picked it. Last year the ones we ate in December-January tasted amazing. The one we ate this week was nice, but not mature enough for the proper flavour.

[Gardener and Rabbit]

Picked at the weekend as the stalks had gone woody & the skin was hard. The plant was dying off too.

I normally grow Sweet dumpling squash and they have always been delicious.

[surbie100]

I still think that you may have eaten the red kuri before it was properly ripe inside. If you can give them a month to 6 weeks on a sunny windowsill or in the greenhouse you'll probably taste a difference.

Sweet dumpling are smaller and will be mature more quickly. They are also curcurbita pepo, which is the same family as courgettes and summer squash, which might be another indicator of why they are ready more quickly, but also why they don't generally store as well.

[Gardener and Rabbit]

Thanks Surbie, have moved them onto a South facing windowsill & will leave them there for a few weeks before trying them again.

[Nobbie]

I tried one of my Kuri squashes about a month ago as I'm very impatient. It didn't have much flavour at all, as I added it to a stew and it was very similar to potato in taste. I'll leave the rest for a month or two now and get stuck into the sweet dumpling

[pigguns]

I tried one of my Kuri squashes about a month ago as I'm very impatient. It didn't have much flavour at all, as I added it to a stew and it was very similar to potato in taste. I'll leave the rest for a month or two now and get stuck into the sweet dumpling

yup me too, will hang on before eating those then