No vegetable excels the squash in its variety of form and color.
Among commonly grown forms, they range in size from the little Butternut, Table Queen, and Buttercup to the great Blue Hubbards, which may weigh 60 pounds or more.
Of course, that leaves out the Mammoth Chili, which may be even larger.
Noteworthy Squash Characteristics
Colors vary from deep green, almost black, through light greens, rich oranges, salmon, and buff, bright yellow to the clear white of some patty-pans or scallops.
Many are variegated as in the Cocozelles or Green and Gold.
In form, we have round ones and flat ones, pot-bellied Hubbards, dumbbells and Indian clubs, and the patty pans with their crown of 10 lobes around the edge.
As if that were not enough, the old New England favorites, Bay State and Essex, are adorned with a great irregular, bulging growth that develops inside the blossom scar and gives the general name of “turban” to the group. The delicious Buttercup shows this character.
The Difference Between Squash And Pumpkin
What is a squash, and what is a pumpkin? These two terms are loosely used and probably always will be.
One of our great seed houses tried to correct our usage several years ago by cataloging summer squash as summer pumpkin, which it really is, but the name wouldn’t stick.
Three Cucurbita “Squash” Species
In the United States, three species, all of the genus Cucurbita, are common.
Two of them, Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita pepo, are easily separated.
While botanists use several characters, the simplest for laymen is the difference in the peduncle or fruit stem.
In Cucurbita maxima, it is round, fleshy, and somewhat spongy, sometimes an inch and a half or 2” inches in diameter.
Cucurbita pepo’s fruit stem is more slender, hard, and ridged.
Cucurbita maxima belong to the Hubbards. And examples are the following:
- Turbans
- Quality
- Delicious
- Buttercup
Cucurbita pepo includes the various summer squash, Table Queen and Delicata, the English marrows, and our common field and garden pumpkins, but not the Kentucky Field pumpkin, which is a moschata.
These two species do not cross.
The third species, Cucurbita moschata, is more difficult, lacking conspicuous distinguishing single characters to separate it from Cucurbita pepo, thus depending upon a combination of characters.
The fruit stems are angular, as are those of Cucurbita pepo, but in many cases, though not always, they spread out just as they join the body of the fruit.
None have the rough surface of the Hubbards or the straight necks. Among the moschatas is the Butternut of old New England tradition, now widely grown elsewhere, the winter crooknecks, including Tennessee Sweet Potato, the Mammoth Chili, and Kentucky Field.
Common Element Of Flavor
Squash and pumpkins all possess a common element of unmistakable flavor – just call it “squashy.”
In the field, pumpkins, this flavor is marked, almost rank. But it is the flavor prized in pumpkin pie, giving that delicious viand a quality that is not to be found in squash pie or sweet potato pie.
Summer squash is very mild in flavor and rather watery, the latter character being shared with the pumpkins, which are also somewhat granular in texture.
New Englanders generally prefer a rather dry squash, a character possessed in a high degree by the Vermont Hubbard, bred by M. B. Cummings of the University of Vermont.
Some squash and pumpkins show considerable stringiness and fiber in the flesh.
In one variety, this was glorified by naming it Vegetable Spaghetti, and one catalog listed it as Squaghetti.
Varieties vary greatly in this respect, as do the fruits of plants of the same variety. Interior quality has been too often neglected in breeding work with the cucurbits.
Table Queen “Acorn”
Table Queen, often called Acorn, is notable for the variation in flavor, texture, and thickness of flesh, even among plants in the same row, some being excellent, others inferior.
A few seed houses have undertaken to “true up” their strains in these quality characters.
Some Table Queens possess a distinct acid tang that some like and some do not.
The cushaws or moschatas vary widely in table quality, but most of them are considered inferior to the better hub-bards or Quality or Delicious.
Butternut
One notable exception is the Butternut or the little dumb-bell-shaped, buff-colored, thick-fleshed variety long hidden away in New England.
It was more or less of an heirloom variety until it broke into the trade some years ago and achieved considerable well-deserved popularity.
Some strains’ fault cracking rather badly. The blocky, thick-necked type is preferred, but there seems to be a good deal of variation in length and thickness of the neck, even on the same plant, where the genetic constitution is identical.
Of course, its tastes differ, but many like squash to be thick-fleshed, moderately dry, smooth rather than granular, free of stringiness, and medium squash flavor.
By this standard, some of the small-to-medium-sized squash of the Hubbard group are excellent.
Examples are:
- Quality
- Delicious
- Golden Delicious
Boston Marrow is larger, of deep orange color, moderately dry, and of good texture.
In processing plants – canners and freezers – it is commonly blended with the more watery and granular but flavorful pumpkin and sold as a pumpkin.
This is approved, but don’t try adding pumpkin to squash and calling it squash. That is adulteration. There is a caste system in foods.
Varying Nutritional Values
Nutritional values among the squash vary widely.
Simmer squash, including Yankee Hybrid, the straight necks, the cocozelles, and the zucchinis are to be eaten because we like them, not because their contribution is important.
On the other hand, the members of the maxima group are good sources of energy, minerals, and vitamins, especially vitamin A of the carotin, associated with the yellow color.
We’ll leave the cooking largely to the discretion of the kitchen artists.
Simple stewing, steaming, or pressure-cooking yield the unembellished qualities of the various varieties.
Baking in the shell seems to lend a bit more character. In addition to the essential seasoning, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and other condiments may be used.
44659 by Paul Work