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WEEKEND GARDEN BLOGGING
Submitted by KAT on Sat, 12/02/2006 - 4:10pm.
Scaredy Cat was afraid this pumpkin wouldn’t turn orange in time for Halloween, and it didn’t, because it’s actually a Queensland Blue Winter Squash. We planted three different heirloom squash vines this year, but this exotic Australian was the sole progeny of our pumpkin patch—ah, the vagaries of vegetable gardening (pumpkins and winter squash are the same thing, BTW, if you’re wondering.)
On the bright side, if your yard’s only going to yield a single squash, this is a great one to have, according to Elizabeth Schneider, author of Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini. Queensland Blue is what’s known as a “good keeper,” with an excellent storage life:
I admired the pumpkin for several months…before sacrificing it to a meal…Baked, the satiny solid smooth flesh turns a uniform orange-gold; it cuts with the richness of avocado and the density of cooked quince. It is not starchy in any way, but thick and moist. Its flavor is curious, unfamiliar—not like any squash I know. It tastes more like an intriguing green vegetable…
Sounds amazing; I can hardly wait to try it. But it’s such a perfect specimen with its deeply ribbed blue-green-grey skin, we may just leave it on the mantle for a month or two so we can show it off. After all, it’s truly one-of-a-kind.
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