Just had my first pumpkin today :)
A nice little 'hooligan', microwaved (minus the seeds) for 4 mins and had at work. Was expecting something really sweet which it wasn't but as my taste buds got use to the flavour I just wanted more and more. Why didn't I bring two home from the allotment >:(
Still eating courgettes, they will have to wait.
Your winter squash will not be sweet straight off the vine even if they look ready, they need to cure a bit at least two weeks and more for the bigger ones,. The starch turns to sugar as they cure, if you left them and let them do their thing, them cure they would be sweet.. promise!!
XX Jeannine
Grew hooligan a few years ago - it was like eating a bowl of sugar.
Thanks Jeannine.
I pulled the plants early as they were coming down quickly with powdery mildew and I wanted to limit the spread as much as possible to my giant pumpkin plant.
The pumpkins are in the open greenhouse curing in the sun but I just cant help starting on the little ones. Will be a nice experiment to taste now and then again in a few weeks and here's hoping its sweet (lottie)
I shall be making a big batch of pumpkin soup tomorrow - yum! For me and the freezer!
My big ones for halloween are doing fantastic too this year - the biggest i've ever grown!
I accidently cut a pumpkin off the plant earlier in the year and saved it and it ripened away. Also a Jack o' lantern pumpkin seed that must've been from last year randomly grew in the middle of the allotment plot a very pathetic plant and 1 small pumpkin. I used both these fruits and made 3 pumpkin pies, I had never eaten or made this before and it was gorgeous!!! We eat 1 and have frozen the others, though I'm not sure what they freeze like.