Jarradale Winter Squash

Mother Earth News reports...

A 50-foot row of winter squash can yield 80 pounds or more of a high-fiber vegetable that is rich in vitamins and minerals, can be stored long into winter, and makes a delicious main course, side dish or dessert. Yes, winter squash takes a fair amount of room to grow, but its bounty is an excellent way to help feed yourself quality food for much of the year.

This year I am growing Jarradale from Pinetree Seeds.

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.

According to Edgewick Farm's 2007 entry...

It spread across my front lawn. It grew up my deer fence. I harvested over twenty beautiful blue pumpkin looking squashes (of course, if not for my black walnuts, I probably would have harvested 100).

I have given a few away to my friends. Driving through New England last week, I had the urge to drop one off to the vegan (I didn’t). I forgot to bring one for Thanksgiving in Maine. (Whoops…I have been brain dead lately.) No one has cooked one until today. This afternoon, kept company by my friend Karen (who has one sitting on her counter too), I chopped and chopped and peeledand peeled. I put the cut up squash in my new green apple dutch oven (courtesy of Farmgirl fare) and plopped it on the woodstove to cook.


I added butter and sea salt and my own maple syrup. I tasted it and found it completely different than butternut with the same ingredients. Blander I thought at first and added more salt and maple syrup. But as I tasted it again and again, I realized it was more subtle. Hmmmm.

Looking forward to seeing this monster spread. Looking forward to the subtle taste. Looking forward to sharing.