Last year, several of you recommended various squash varieties you'd tried. Up until recently, I've stuck to Butternut and Sweet Dumpling (both dependable and tasty).
Last year, I read that Uchiki Kuri and Bon Bon were also very good. I got limited yields of both because they were planted late & got second best treatment. The Uchiki Kuri were "ok, but nothing to make me try them again".
However despite getting only a single fruit, I was very impressed with the Bon Bon and will definitely grow them again. They are the sweetest tasting squash I can remember.
Colin, I have tried Uchiki Kuri and was deeply unimpressed. On cooking it came out far too dry so it was a bit like eating veryfine sawdust and the flavour was nothing to write home about either.
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.
Colin,
I was equally 'unimpresed' with Baby Bear. The texture was fibrous, stringy and most unpleasant. And it's not one, even though I have had seed given me, that I would touch with a barge pole....
Even though we all like and dislike, it is rather good to be able to discuss, recommend and discount all these from personal experience.
Lovely to be given one, taste, experience and adore or reject. If you get my drift....!
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. The good they do is inconceivable....
How funny, Uchiki Kuri is my definite favourite! I find it has a dense, non-fibrous texture, with a dark orange colour and a lovely sweet flavour. The denseness and dry texture means that it purees very well without being too wet and it roasts in chunks very nicely. It isn't hugely productive, though, per plant - around 3 per plant with me, but then I have been delayed in planting them out for the past couple of years.
Table Gold has practically everything going for it, since it is a bush rather than a sprawler, so is very compact; it has quite a lot of squashes on a single bush; and as it is an acorn squash it keeps beautifully for months. However, the flesh is goldy-yellow, rather than deep orange, and the flavour is similarly lighter and less vivid. It is OK and useful but for me doesn't have the wow factor.
I grew a round black one last year (Gemstone?) which had lots of fruits per plant - around 10 or more - and the plant went everywhere. It is good for training up an arch, especially as the individual fruits are not large, so they don't break the plant when dangling off. The fruits are a good size for us, though, one doing 2 people nicely. It keeps well. However, the flesh is yellow rather than orange, and not such an outstanding flavour. Also, the skin is very thick and hard; you need a really good knife and have to be very careful that it doesn't skid off and cut you!
I am sowing 11-12 different varieties this year for fun, so will see how they compare.
One of my biggest successes was two years ago, when I grew Crown Prince on the top of a compost heap, where it had lots of room to sprawl and did very well without getting in the way of anything. It does however need to have a hole scooped out for it, which you fill with soil, to give the plant a start before its roots grow out to meet the actual composting material.
Alison.
A recently heard tip regarding squashes with hard skins...........zap them for a minute or so in the microwave and they are apparently easier to peel. They should be punctured with a knife first to allow air to escape.
I'm with Alison on this one - Uchiki Kuri is one of our favourites. When some of these squashes are described by others as stringy, tough, dry and so on I can't help thinking that this has more to do with growing conditions that the variety itself. Although squashes don't suffer from pests they do need rich growing conditions and plenty of water to reach their best.
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg I am a man and the world is my urinal
John wrote:When some of these squashes are described by others as stringy, tough, dry and so on I can't help thinking that this has more to do with growing conditions that the variety itself.
Good point John. However my Bon Bon and Uchiki Kuri grew side by side and had pretty much the same treatment.
The Uchiki Kuri wasn't stringy, dry or anything like that. It's just that I thought it had a bland flavour, compared to Butternut, Bob Bon and Sweet Dumpling.
For info, I've roasted all of mine so far, so they've been treated consistently. If any of you can recommend better cooking techniques for certain varieties, please let us know.
You did say Colin that you got limited yields of both because they were planted late & got second best treatment. So that made me think that growing conditions had something to do with it. I've found U K amazingly prolific with often at least 5 or 6 large fruits. I shall certainly try B B this year following your recommendation!
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg I am a man and the world is my urinal
tricia wrote:A recently heard tip regarding squashes with hard skins...........zap them for a minute or so in the microwave and they are apparently easier to peel. They should be punctured with a knife first to allow air to escape.
Hmmm, think I'll have to get a much bigger microwave then.
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.
