A friend gave me some seed to try this year and I assumed that it was a round courgette, like Nice de rond. It turned out to be very vigorous, 1mX1mX1m, and very productive and very tasty when cooked as a courgette.
Now that I have looked at the Organic catalogue, it appears to be a Squash, (cucurbita maxima??) and they suggest using it young as a cucumber, or grow it to maturity when it will store.
Has anybody grown it to maturity to store and how long did it store? Was it sweet?
Itw ill store like most winter squash depending on the conditions you store it in, it is sweetish but not one of my favourites like a Kuri or a Delicata, it needs a long growing season to take it to full maturity. My advice is to grow one on for curiosity but usually use it as a courgette, there are much better ones for growing as winter squash. Well done with it though, it is quite the sight.XX Jeannine
Thanks for the information, Jeannine. I thought that you would know all about it!
Bearing in mind that this Summer has been cool, dull and wet in Glasgow, I am amazed that it was such a success, each plant producing over 10 green cannon balls. I had to pass the surplus around for other plotters to try. When used as courgettes, the concensus view was that they were much more tasty than the usual long courgettes.
The suggested method of cooking was to cut them into rounds, 1-2 cm thick, fry one side till softened. Turn over and melt cheese or put some pate`or cooked meat on the top. Enjoy!
Hi, the reason they have a different(better) taste is the flesh is more dense, more in keeping with a winter squash, bear in mind though that immature ones won't keep. XX Jeannine