Winter Squash Variety Name
Best uses
Description -
number of days is minimum to grow one from seed under best conditions
Acorn
Side dish
This acorn-shaped squash is one of the most widely available among the
small winter squash. It measures about 6 inches around and weighs 1 to 2
pounds. Baking is an excellent way to bring out the sweet, nutty flavors of this
tender fleshed squash.
Blue doll
eating
A greenish-blue pumpkin that grows from 15 to 20lbs in weight. A deep orange flesh good for pies and soups. Very similar to
Jarrahdale.
Blue Hubbard
eating,
Great for pumpkin pies
100 days. An heirloom dating to 1909 by Gregory as Symmes Blue Hubbard. Averages 30 - 40 lbs. Excellent flavor, productivity
and storage qualities. It is high in dietary fiber and rich in Vitamin A & C Used in pies, vegetarian stews, cakes, and candies.
Blue Jarrahdale
eating, decor
110 days. An heirloom pumpkin with pale gray, almost green-blue skin and a stringless, dense, sweet orange flesh.. Some
variants look more blue than others. Expect 3 to 5 fruits per plant, each 10 to 14 inch weighing about 6 to 12 pounds each.
Buckskin
Eating
Large pie size, taller than wide, tapered towards blossom end, tan, with short thin peduncle.
Butternut Squash
eating -
Makes excellent pumpkin pies
105 days. Beige skin, with deep orange, smooth-textured seetw, nutty-tasting flesh that improves with a couple months'
storage. Fruits avgerage 9" long and weigh 4 to5 lb. Eachplant produces 4 or 5 squash. When ripe, it turns
increasingly deep orange, and becomes sweeter and richer. It is a good source of fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium; and it is a
source of vitamin A. Butternut squash can be roasted, sautéed, toasted, puréed for soups such as squash soup, or mashed to be used in
casseroles, breads, muffins, and pies. The squash is also used as an alternative diet for Monarch butterfly caterpillars alongside cucumbers.
Calabaza
eating
Common to the Philippines, West Indies and Puerto Rico, Calabaza squash need a long warm growing season.
Carnival
Eating
Mottled green, yellow and orange acorn squash with excellent flavor. Carnival squash is small to medium in size, 12-17
centimeters in diameter. The flesh is firm, dry, coarse, and pale orange in color with a large and fibrous seed cavity with stringy pulp and
many flat, beige seeds. Cooked squash is soft and tender with a fragrant aroma and is slightly nutty, buttery, and sweet, similar to butternut
squash. Vigorous, semi-bush vines yield a large number of fruits.
Casper
decor
Crown Prince
all-purpose
With a glossy gray-blue skin, and sweet flavorful orange flesh,it is good for decor or eating. It keeps very well and can keep for up
to a year in a cool and dark place.
Futsu Black
eating
105 days. This very deep green ribbed and warted squash appears to be almost black. The golden orange flesh is delicious with a strong
taste similar to hazelnuts. Fruits are large with weights close to 10 pounds a possibility. An excellent storage variety. Flavor develops in storage.
Black Futsu is an heirloom Japanese pumpkin. Great roasted, fried in tempura, pureed in pies or soups, or pickled! 3-5 fruits per plant, averaging 3
lbs. each.
Golden Hubbard
eating
990-105 day. Deep golden-yellow flesh has excellent flavor and a fine-grained texture. Nubbly skin 12-14 lb and hubbard
shape.
Jarrahdale
Excellent for cooking and pies!
100 days This Australian variety is very unusual. The skin is a very attractive ribbed blue-gray. Ten pound fruit can be 34
inches around and the flesh is orange and sweet. Stores well. Medium size, flattened and ridged, dull blue-green.
This makes the
best pumpkin pies!
Kakai
all-purpose.
100 days - Striking, medium-small, avg. 5-8 lb., black-striped pumpkins. Kakai is a variety of the Austrian type that
yields the valuable green pumpkin seed oil that some European studies show promotes prostate health. Semi-bush, short-vine plants. Avg.
yield: 2-3 fruits/plant. After displaying the (un-carved) pumpkins next fall, you can scoop out the large, dark green, completely hull-less
seeds, which are delicious roasted.
Kabocha pumpkins
Eating
Very popular for pies
These are a Japanese variety with dark green skin, yellow sweet, firm flesh that is common to the Far East and Australia.
Kentucky Field
Eating
113 days. Traditional heirloom beigh-skin, orange flesh, perfect for pies and canning. The vines are extremely prolific
Also excellent in storage.
Lakota
eating
100 days. A pear-shaped heirloom variety from the midwestern United States. Both decorative and good for eating. The pear
shaped fruit can go as large as 7 pounds. The flesh is a golden hue with a fine flavor. The skin color is a variegated green and orange
although some fruit will be entirely orange and others entirely green. They have a sweet taste like a butternut squash.
Long Island Cheese
Eating - heirloom pumpkin for pies
90 days. This East Coast heirloom is thought of as a great pie squash. The name comes from the similarity in shade and
shape to a big wheel of cheese. The buff colored skin reveals attractive, firm orange flesh. Fruits are 6-8 pounds and storage qualities are
excellent.
Marina di Chioggia
eating, decor
Blistery, bubbled, slate blue-green rind. Avg. 6-12 lb. bumpy squashes make a wild yet subdued ornamental statement for fall. Amy
Goldman in her new book, The Compleat Squash, describes this Italian seaside specialty as deliziosa, especially for gnocchi and ravioli, and
a culinary revelation.
Musque de Provence
eating, decor
125 day. Ribbed, flat, tan fruits 8-15 lb. Thick, deep orange moderately sweet flesh. Sold in cut wedges in the South of France. 2
fruits per plant. .
Neck
eating
Heirloom, great for pies
120 days. Neck, sometimes called "crockneck pumpkin" is a relative of butternut types. It has sweet tasting, very smooth, stringless,
bright orange flesh. It matures quite late and is a full vining type. It curls when growing and can get 24 to 30" long. It is a high
yielding, vining pumpkin.
Porcelain Doll
eating, decor
110 days. Light pink skin with deep orange sweet, dense flesh. Excellent for baking, pies.
Orange Hokkaido (also called Red Kuri)
eating
92 days. A teardrop-shaped, thin skinned orange colored winter squash, related to Hubbard squash.
Rumbo
eating, decor
100-120 days. 14-15 lb, looks like a Cinderella pumpkin with superior flavored dark orange-yellow flesh and deeply ribbed
orange-yellow shiny skin
Speckled Hound
eating, decor
100 days. Orange skin with green splotches. Yellow-orange, dense flesh. High yielding. Oblate shape with shallow ribbing.
Averages 3-6 lb. and about 8 per plant.
Spaghetti Squash
side dish
This oval-shaped yellow squash is also called the vegetable spaghetti.
It averages 9 inches in length and may weigh 2 to 3 pounds. When cooked,
the crisp, tender fhesh falls a apart into spaghetti-like strands that
have a mild lightly sweet and
fresh taste. Keep in mind that the larger the vegetable, the thicker the
strands and the more flavorful the taste. It really is good with
spaghetti sauce on the cooked squash "noodles"
Sunshine Hybrid
eating, decor
80-95 day. Vitamin-rich bright orange flesh of this Kobocha-type winter squash is thick, creamy-smooth, stringless with an
outstanding sweet, nutty flavor. Space saving 6-8 ft vines yield good supply of 3-4 lb fruit. 2004 AAS Winner.
Sweet dumpling
side dish
This solid round squash, formerly known as the vegetable gourd, is a
perfect serving for one person. It is about the size of an apple and
weighs up to 1 pound. The skin is a warm cream color striped with ivy
green, and it changes to butter color and orange during storage. The
skin is relatively tender and can be eaten. The pale-yellow flesh is
smooth, fine, and dry as a potato and produces a rich starchy, light to
mild sweetness, with a slight corn flavor.
Sweet Lightning
eating, decor
100 day. 1lb, edible ornamental, creamy-yellow, orange-striped 3"x5" fruit. Semi-bush vines Flavor is very sweet . The
flesh is smooth and creamy when baked.
Turk's Turban
eating, decor
95 Days. multi-colored, buttercup-type squash striped with silver, green, and white with a orange-red base 7-9" across.
Averages 3-5 lb with 2 or 3 fruits per plant
White Pie
all-purpose, eating, decor
A round or oval-shaped pumpkin with a slightly off-white skin. Sweet, smooth-textured flesh that good for pies.
Winter Luxury
eating, decor
85-100 day. Very productive medium 10 inch diameter with finely netted golden russet color. Deep golden thick sweet flesh is rated among
best for taste and texture. Winter Luxury is an heirloom variety that dates back to the late 1800s.