Anyone Interested? - Pumpkin Seeds

Everyone on here probably knows that I have a grandson that is three years old. Well last fall we had about a half dozen friends that decided to buy the little guy a pumpkin for Halloween. And so did I. And so did his mother. Typically we are not the wasteful types, so D2 made pies and breads and did her best to use that pumpkin and even put a good amount in the freezer, but she still had pumpkins left. She brought a couple over after Thanksgiving for me to feed to my livestock.

Then I had a surprise.

One of the pumpkins was like nothing I had ever seen. I chopped it open and was amazed to see the entire inside of the pumpkin filled with dry "noodle" guts. It was similar in texture to a spaghetti squash, except for it smelled fantastic. I reached in and tried a bit, just raw, and it was VERY flavorful and quite sweet like one of those heritage cooking pumpkins.




I tried to figure out what kind of pumpkin it was ... even contacted Baker Creek Seeds ... with no luck. The guy at Baker Creek says it may be a sport which is a natural mutation of some heritage pumpkin or it may be a hybrid of some kind. The only way to find out if this pumpkin will breed true is to grow it.

Here is the problem. Where I live we have a HORRIBLE squash borer problem. To the point that I am actually jealous of people that can raise a zucchini. (any extra zucchini are more than welcome here even those baseball bats) If I try to raise these seeds (which I am going to try) I highly doubt that I will even get a crop at all.

This pumpkin would be great to use as a vegetable side dish, like you would use spaghetti squash. I would hate for this to be a terrific mutation and then be lost forever because I have a bug problem. Then again it might be a hybrid of some kind and the pumpkins would end up like typical pumpkins. Either way I need people willing to raise it and see.

I have a bunch of nice seed. If you are interested in growing this send me an email. Farmfresh@ubuilderplans.com
I will give you my address, then you can mail me a self addressed and stamped envelope and I will fill it with seeds and send it back. The only catch is that I please ask you to report on the results. IF these seeds plant true please save the seeds. Baker Creek Seed said they would be interested in them if it is a new variety. Who knows? You might be in on the ground level of a new vegetable sensation! ???

E-mail sent. I love both spaghetti squash and pumpkin, so I'm hoping it is a new variety.

Mee too. That would just be totally cool if it was.

That is the same type of pumpkin I wound up with last year. I bought my pumpkins at Meijer grocery store. That was the biggest PITA to clean and carve. I think they crossed with a spaghetti squash because I've never seen a pumpkin like it in my near 50 years on this planet. They were large, solid weight pumpkins with a nice orange color and a good shape for carving into Jack-o-lanterns.

Was the one you had sweet fleshed? This one tasted great! Did you save any seeds?

I didn't try it and I didn't save any seeds. I was mad that it was so difficult to scape smooth inside that I didn't keep any of the seeds to try growing. I am particular about my pumpkins for carving.

See we seldom carve a pumpkin here. Around here pumpkin is destined for pie.

I like pumpkin pies, custard and eclair cake BUT one must be sacrificed for a jack-o-lantern.

You said the flavor was sweet but how was the texture, was it stringy or did it puree up smooth? I'm thinking you could blanch the strings, sprinkle with cinnamon or pie spice and dehydrate the strings for snacking. Have you made any fruit leather roll ups from pumpkin puree and pie spice?

It was like carrot shreds. Crunchy and moist. I just snacked on a bit raw. The reason that I ended up with it for animal feed is that the bottom had already gone goopy. I wish I could have had it in good shape because I would have baked or streamed it and served with some butter and brown sugar as a vegetable side dish.

Mine was rather dry and stringy so it may have been different than yours. It was also very pale orange colored but it smelled very pumpkiny.