WINTER SQUASH

Table Queen - 11/2–2 lb. black-green ribbed fruits good for baking. Dry flesh is best eaten within 3–4 months after harvest. Introduced by the Iowa Seed Co. in Des Moines in 1913, once known as Des Moines, Queen began a trend away from monster squashes in favor of smaller fruits. A similar squash was grown by the Arikara tribe in North Dakota. Seedsman Henry Field claimed that Table Queen “makes a better pumpkin pie than a pumpkin.”  

Sweet Dumpling - Stunning 1–11/2 lb. ivory-colored green-striped fruits shaped like miniature pumpkins sell themselves on the stand. New York Times food writer Regina Schrambling calls them the “avocados of squash” for their inherent buttery richness and sweet-tangy taste. But make sure your Dumpling is ripe before you bake it. Underripe Dumpling fruits taste starchy and insipid, nothing like the sweet dry and memorably rich deep orange flesh of the mature ones. Introduced by Sakata Seed Corp. of Yokohama, Japan, in 1976 and marketed as Vegetable Gourd. Sold better after they changed its name to the more appealing Sweet Dumpling.  

Squisito - I (Fedco Seeds) groaned when Nikos handed me packets of spaghetti squash to trial. Normally I disdain this stringy genre, having long believed it was nothing more than a breeding disaster cleverly rescued by a public relations campaign. Think again. Whatever Minnesota breeder Elvin Martin saw in these early-maturing 4 lb. avg. deep-gold oblong fruits, I see too. Martin doesn’t recall what squash he started with, but he liked it and has been selecting it for “at least six” years. He produces a large amount for sales to local markets. He sent it to us because he thought it was something a bit different that would interest us. Approaching it with great skepticism, I found it wonderfully sweet and ended up eating a half squash in one sitting—the larger half at that. Unprecedented! Nikos named it Squisito (skwee-ZEE-toh), Italian for ‘yummy.’ Think exquisite squash.  

Burgess Buttercup - New England’s favorite winter squash, enjoyed for its sweet deep-orange flesh. Fruits, with an acorn-shaped button on the blossom end and flattened shoulders, average 3–4 lb. with about 4 per hill. Stem is well dried when ripe. The original buttercup strain showed up in 1925 as a chance cross between Quality and Essex Hybrid in the trial garden at North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. After further selection by famous seedsman Albert Yaeger, Oscar H. Will of Bismarck introduced it in his 1931 catalog. Alan Kapuler has said, “If you pick only one squash to grow this is it.”  

Uncle David’s Dakota Dessert -  “Uncle David’s Dakota Dessert is the best I have had in 65 years. Hope Uncle Sam can reach this level in his work,” intoned B.R. Frost of Titusville, PA. This outstanding strain which David Podoll calls “the original buttercup” has been in his family for 70 years. They’ve been selecting it for 40 years, crossing it with hubbards and other maximas, primarily for color, taste, sweetness, and vigor and hardiness in cold weather, but also for thick flesh, small seed cavities and higher productivity. The Podoll family bake it into pies without using any other sweetener. But this is also a versatile main-dish squash, with all the character that makes buttercup a New England favorite. And it is one rugged buttercup, withstanding several cold summers and all those temperature extremes in recent seasons, producing a lot of squash without skipping a beat.  

Sweet Meat -  This tasty 12–15 lb. slate-grey heirloom, shaped like a slightly flattened round pumpkin was maintained by an Oregon family for 100 years and sold by Gill Bros. of Portland, OR. It has long had a loyal following in the West. N ow its fame is spreading east. Its dry sweet nutty thick orange flesh improves in storage with a flavor similar to Blue Hubbard.  

Burpee’s Butterbush - Of the nine different butternut squashes Mark Fulford tried over the years, this one is “hands down the best.” Fruits average no more than 11/2 lb, each a perfect one-person serving chock full of deep, reddish-orange flesh “as sweet as the best sweet potatoes.” Seed cavities are small. Fulford describes the flavor as nutty, and the texture moist but never watery, not as moist as the large butternuts. They were a big hit when staffer Paula Fulford brought them to our warehouse for a taste test. Their earliness is an important plus in cold summers. Their compact bushes with short runner vines crawl only 3–6', a big bonus where space is precious. Average yield is 3–5 ripe fruits per plant. Superior flavor and deeper colored flesh than any other butternut. Introduced in 1978, the first bush butternut and still the best. Smooth tan skin; excellent keeper.  

Galeux d’Eysines - Garden writer Barbara Damrosch says “it looks as if peanut-shaped worms were crawling about its surface.” Depending on your point of view, it is either among the ugliest or most beautiful of all squashes. I vote for the latter. This heirloom, hailing from the Bordeaux region of France, was listed by Vilmorin in 1883 as Warted Sugar Marrow. It resurfaced at the Pumpkin Fair in Tranzault, France, in 1996. Shaped like rounded slightly flattened pumpkins, the 15 lb. fruits have salmon-peach skins covered with large warts. Although Galeux is worth growing for beauty alone, its tender moist sweet orange flesh is delightful in soups or baked. Amy Goldman recommends sautéing it in butter or using it in place of white beans in garbure, “a fabulous main course soup” from Bordeaux. Ripened easily from direct seeding both in 2004 and 2007, neither prime squash years. For your autumn pleasure; not a good keeper.