This heirloom squash traces its lineage back the the Cherokee Indians who cultivated it. Still grown by the Cherokee, this delicious squash is popular in and around the Appalachian Mountains, from Northern Georgia through Tennessee and North Carolina.
Don’t feel bad, I had never heard of it either! Perusing an issue of Southern Living, a beautiful picture of a rather large squash caught my attention. The shape and color were nothing like any squash I had ever seen or eaten!
I was smitten and called my bestie Cerina to see if she had ever heard of this odd squash. Not only had she heard of it… she had SEEDS!!! You’re a keeper girl!♥
So she sent me some seeds and I planted three of them in June or July sometime. Yup, just plopped those suckers into the ground and crossed my fingers, cuz that’s my gardening style!
Now mind you, I only plopped in three seeds! Two germinated and up came some beautiful vines with leaves as big as my head. I ran the vines up a cattle panel and watched in amazement as the squash grew. And grew. And grew! This is NOT a small squash folks.
Harvest this beauty when it’s a nice orange-ish color. It take about 50-55 days to mature. And just when you think these are too good to be true there’s more!
- They keep well (as long as they are in a cool, dark place)
- The seeds are easy to clean and store
- They provide a LOT of flesh to cook with
- It can be roasted, frozen and canned
- Great for making pies!
What’s not to love? Here’s a video I created about why this vegetable will be grown year after year in our garden:
Are you trying a new seed this year?
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