Allotments 4 All

Anybody know this one?

I just got these  seeds along with Gem.I know Gem well  but never grown this pumpkin.

Seeds came from South Africa.

XX Jeannine

Hi Jeannine - these are just the normal everyday pumpkin grown in Southern Africa... They grow on vines like other pumpkins and butternut etc.. They are quite a prolific plant producing many pumpkins of varying sizes. If you know the Hubbard squash (more a pumpkin than a squash) it is the sme sort of taste but a bit sweeter. Various ways of cooking like peel and boil, fried, roasted with the Sunday roast etc. etc. They keep for months and months just thrown on top of the shed roof at the back of the house.. A staple veg for a lot of Africans. Great for base for the bulk for jam making and also great for baby food - pure.

See an info page here... http://www.mayford.co.za/VegSeedQrevDocs/Pumpkin/Commercial%20Varieties/FLAT%20WHITE%20BOER%20FORD.pdf

Looks a lot like the basic Aussie pumpkins to me, like a sort of pale Qld Blue. I bet they are good eaters.

I've seen the pale sort of blue tinge pumpkin that is probably an offshoot of it but no the one Jeannine has is white... They are good eating.... so many ways to cook and enhanced by adding a bit of butter, sprinkle of sugar, S&P....

There are two types, Flat White Boer van Niekirk and FWB Ford.  Both quite similar, both c maxima.  They are pure white to start with, storage colour beige, overlaid with pale pink 'netting'.  They are flattish wheel types and delicious eaters.  Grew fine here, relatively early and stored for ages.  Must be due for growing again next year, as my seeds are getting on a bit  ;D

PS not blueish at all, well at least here they weren't, different from the Aussie ones.

Hi galina - you say grew well here... where is here??

Quote from: gavinjconway on September 08, 2011, 16:55:27
Hi galina - you say grew well here... where is here??

Apologies.  Northants near the Beds border, somewhat exposed garden. 

Hi Galina, I should have said I had the Ford one, the Niekerk one apparently has a problem with damp ground, there is also a third one the Durban bit it was a bit too big.

I was interested in the ease of growing.. which one did you grow and did it have any problems with damp.

It's usually  uses are like most large  pumpkin, soups etc but I wanted to know how sweet compared to any of our commonly grown ones.

I don't grow squash usually that are soup types but got a bit interested in this one.

I know it has a very long season but did you have any difficulty maturing it.

I was surprised to hear it turned pinky,

XX Jeannine

Where did you get your seeds from Galina? 

Quote from: Jeannine on September 08, 2011, 19:41:00
Hi Galina, I should have said I had the Ford one, the Niekerk one apparently has a problem with damp ground, there is also a third one the Durban bit it was a bit too big.

I was interested in the ease of growing.. which one did you grow and did it have any problems with damp.

It's usually  uses are like most large  pumpkin, soups etc but I wanted to know how sweet compared to any of our commonly grown ones.

I don't grow squash usually that are soup types but got a bit interested in this one.

I know it has a very long season but did you have any difficulty maturing it.

I was surprised to hear it turned pinky,

XX Jeannine

It was Ford.  Well here it is so dry, damp does not really present a problem.  This was sweeter than a soup pumpkin, tastier.  We don't get a long season here.  It takes so long before squashes establish.  I harvested it just at the first frost.  But the plants only made one fruit each.  Yes, the storage colour was very unusual, pink lacy pattern overlayed onto an ivory background.  The white faded to ivory, and the pink pattern appeared on top of it.

Quote from: lottie lou on September 08, 2011, 21:28:16
Where did you get your seeds from Galina? 

It was a seed swap with a gentleman who regularly travels to SA.  Seeds actually came from SA.

Seeds can be bought here:
http://www.bobby-seeds.com/en/Cucurbits-and-more/Squash-Seeds/Maxima-Seeds-all/Flat-White-Boer::75.html

What a woman :) :) :)  What timing :) :) :) Just about to leave house for last frozen yoghurt before going to airport for flight home when the post arrived with the seeds.  Thank you very much Jeannine.

Boer Pampoen just means farmers pumpkin.

Just standard everyday eating pumpkin from South Africa - I always use it as a side veg, or fried into fritters (yum yum yum with brown sugar).

Really easy to cook and delicious to eat.  Hope they grow for you.

Quote from: bikegirllisa on September 26, 2011, 22:58:01
Boer Pampoen just means farmers pumpkin.

Just standard everyday eating pumpkin from South Africa - I always use it as a side veg, or fried into fritters (yum yum yum with brown sugar).

Really easy to cook and delicious to eat.  Hope they grow for you.

ditto.... delicious

fried into fritters (yum yum yum with brown sugar).

Do you have a recipe please....in anticipation

Lou

This pumpkin is my favourite and we just got our 2nd today from our allotment. these pumpkins are very tasty and fabulous for pumpkin fritters and soup too.

http://www.rainbowcooking.co.nz/recipes/pumpkin-fritters
This is a link for pumpkin fritters.

I'm growing these this year. They are doing really well too having set a good number of fruit.

Looking forward to harvest after reading the posts above but I shall leave them for as late as I can which is usually mid October.

We read that you can harvest them 3 months after you've planted them and we had one 3 months after, but decided to wait a few more weeks with the next one.

I have grown these as winter squash.  By the time we ate them, the skin of the squash had turned a girly pink!  Quite surprising.  Tasted very good.  Wish I had grown some this year.