Topic: Winter Squash taste tests

[Duke Ellington]

I ate my first Bon Bon squash yesterday and it was lovely ;D I will definitely grow it again. Although I love the taste of crown prince and jarrahdale I find them too large for just two of us. I also grew sweet dumpling this year but I am a little dissapointed with it's flavour and texture. I think it's a little dry. Next year I want to grow smaller squashes as I find them more practical.

duke

[antipodes]

I love butternuts but this year I had success with a dark green squash given to me by a friend, it's a Kabocha type I think, with a funny paler patch on the bottom. Excellent flavour. He also gave a a Tristar fruit, which is the green-grey type that is sort of bent over on itself  ;D That is also very tasty but hard to cut.

[realfood]

My latest taste test involves BonBon, Uchiki Kuri and Blue Kuri and you can guess that BonBon won, but not by a huge margin.
BonBon had a sweet, fudge like consistency dark orange flesh, with good flavour and is a well deserved winner.
Uchicki Kuri, sweet and a lot of flavour with dark orange flesh was very good.
Blue Kuri was sweet with a light orange flesh, but not quite as much flavour as Uchiki Kuri.

[realfood]

Came across this page http://www.thepumpkinpatch.com/wintersquash.htm which is of interest.

[onionsquash]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but the RHS had a big trial of winter squash at Wisley this year, about 40 varieties, most of which did pretty well. I understand they will be doing taste tests in the New Year and awarding AGMs and I assume the results will be in their magazine, eventually. There were some that I hadn't heard of so it will be interesting to see if the old favourites come through.

[Susiebelle]

On recommendation I grew 'Bon Bon' for the first time this year and tasted the first of my harvest yesterday - it was very very sweet, too sweet for the dish I was serving it with, however I also found the texture quite dry - is this the way it should be?

[GrannieAnnie]

On recommendation I grew 'Bon Bon' for the first time this year and tasted the first of my harvest yesterday - it was very very sweet, too sweet for the dish I was serving it with, however I also found the texture quite dry - is this the way it should be?

I don't know what the rest of you have found with the sweeter squashes, but so far I've noticed they don't hold up in storage as long as the butternuts. We're eating "Sunshine" and "Confection" at a great rate due to this, however, I like their flavor immensely as they remind me of sweet potatoes. I'm guessing the fact that the furnace is in the storage area isn't helping but we don't have any other storage place that wouldn't freeze.

The other convenient things about "Sunshine" are: it is only around 3 lbs. and has a beautiful bright orange skin which makes it quite decorative. We just celebrated Thanksgiving and used a pile of them and the multicolored-striped delicata winter squash named "Bananaboat" as centerpieces which worked nicely-  then handed them out as people left.

[Dandytown]

Hi all,

As a relatively new gardner I have not grown many varieties but I can say that my Japanese Black Futsu were extremely tasty.  They were picked prematurely and eaten soon after.  I roasted them in olive oil and salt very slowly and the flesh was creamy and nutty.

I'm keen to discover how they taste after maturing and will certainly grow a plant or two next year.

Reccomended.

[realfood]

Suzie, BonBon has a dryish or fudge-like texture which I like and is normal.

[goodlife]

I was 'murdering' one of my Queensland Blue squashes yesterday...pheww, what a job. Thoroughly seasoned skin..could have done with chainsaw to get through. But what I ended up was stockpot full of lovely big cubes of deep orange flesh. Dog enjoyed it raw..poor thing is nearly blind now and cut it 'dog chew-like' strips and they went down well ;D
We had it cooked ...looovely and sweet,,really rich taste. Last one wasn't quite as ripe so taste wasn't half as good as this one had.
Futsu's are just starting to turn from green to brown so I'm waiting to taste them bit longer.
I'm going to have cup of coffee now...after all this typing...and  with slice of squash & mince pie ;D

[GrannieAnnie]

I was 'murdering' one of my Queensland Blue squashes yesterday...pheww, what a job. Thoroughly seasoned skin..could have done with chainsaw to get through. But what I ended up was stockpot full of lovely big cubes of deep orange flesh. Dog enjoyed it raw..poor thing is nearly blind now and cut it 'dog chew-like' strips and they went down well ;D
We had it cooked ...looovely and sweet,,really rich taste. Last one wasn't quite as ripe so taste wasn't half as good as this one had.
Futsu's are just starting to turn from green to brown so I'm waiting to taste them bit longer.
I'm going to have cup of coffee now...after all this typing...and  with slice of squash & mince pie ;D

I read recently a suggestion to bake the squash whole and then cut it open.

[Susiebelle]

Thanks realfood, much appreciated.

[Dandytown]

Please let me know how your Futsu's are goodlife.  Mine was green when I ate it.  I only had one as the plant had a split vine plus a few rookie mistakes on my part which I care not to mention :(

[Susiebelle]

How do you cook & what do you serve it with the Bob Bon realfood, I ask because I have tried it roasted and now I have just made soup that I would normally use Butternut squash and I have found it so so sweet my O.H. just cannot eat it! I have quite a few  Bon Bons to use and not sure what to do with them - any thought would be much appreciated :)

[goodlife]

You can use other veg and stronger stock to 'cut' through sweetness and only use squash as part of the soup..not the main incredient.
And the really sweet ones make good 'pumpkin' pie filling,,but as the squash is much dried fleshed you will need some cream or yughurt to add some moisture to the filling.
You can also eat it raw..just like carrots etc. then the sweetness doesn't matter.
Mash made with half squash, half potato is looovely..served with something more 'salty' like sausages, gammon etc. YUM!

[goodlife]

Just for you Dandytown...
[attachment=1]
This Futsu is almost changed its colour now. As I did not have better things to do today I decided to trial one .
It cooked lovely..I steamed one lot in big cubes and other as spicy wedges in oven ;D ;D ;D
QB was really stodgy and much heavier  compared to Futsu..and Futsu wasn't overly sweet neither.I think I'd like QB better for baking...and for caseroles stews as it is much 'meatier'.
Futsu I think is nice as it is..just as steamed side 'dish'. It is not over powering and has lighter 'mouth feel'.
QB was better raw..where as Futsu I didn't like raw at all....there..I'm that little bit wiser now ;D

[Susiebelle]

Thanks for that Goodlife - I am going to try and 'elongate' the sweet flavour of my soup by making another soup & combining - wish me luck :-\

[qqww]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D :D ;D

[realfood]

Even though I have been growing Sweet Winter Squash for a few years now, I have never made soup with them as I feel they are far too good for that. There are plenty of pumpkins with a low sweetness, which could be used for a soup. See my soup recipe here :-http://www.growyourown.info/page60.html

After microwaving one of the sweeter Winter Squashes, I use the flesh as a veg on its own. BonBon and other sweet ones are marvelous in pumpkin pie. See my recipe here :- http://www.growyourown.info/page171.html It is even quicker to substitute ginger nut biscuits for the pastry. I just line the base and the sides of the tin and pour on the pie mixture.

Or how about my recipe for pumpkin scones here :- http://www.growyourown.info/page178.html

I also use Squash flesh to make a sweet bread using my cheap breadmaker. See my recipe here :-
http://www.growyourown.info/page151a.html

[GrannieAnnie]

I also use Squash flesh to make a sweet bread using my cheap breadmaker. See my recipe here :-
http://www.growyourown.info/page151a.html

Do you add the nuts and dried fruit also? I don't have a bread machine but it looks like an interesting recipe to try anyway.