Sweet Meat - Oregon Homestead

[triffid]

I left a few plants to fend for themselves this summer, virgin ground, no amendments, no irrigation, less than ideal position under a willow tree. Slugs loved the young plants. Those that made it aborted a few medium-sized fruit but one matured fully to 6kg.
Left it to cure for nearly 3 months, opened it up around Dec 20th. As described; dry flesh, flattened seed cavity, fat seeds (counted 300). Halved and roasted it face down as per instructions in The Resilient Gardener.
Used 1kg for soup and froze the rest for later. Tastes absolutely divine, flavoursome, rich, very sweet. Almost too sweet for the savory soup - I think most recipes account for a lower quality pumpkin.  10/10 will grow again. Would be nice to start afresh with some foundation grade seed, stock from one plant's one small fruit isn't ideal but I'll be planting them for eating nonetheless.
Now thinking about what I have left in the freezer.. pie recipes anyone?

[Klaus Brugger]

This one is on my to-grow-list!
For more savoury dishes, I don't let my squashes cure that long. E.g., I always make lots of squash gnocchi in autumn (mostly for freezing) when the maximas are very starchy and not that sweet yet.

[triffid]

Let me know if you want some seed. I did prepare a smaller pumpkin that slipped off the vine prematurely and it definitely tasted much different.. difficult to describe, nice flavour but more 'vegetabley'. Making my own squash gnocchi is something I'm yet to attempt 

[Petra Suckling]

Triffid, did you say 300 large seeds in one squash.  I am lucky if I get 30 in my handpollinated maxima squashes.  If this is not a typo, it is amazing.  I bought seeds from Adaptive Seeds and look forward to growing this squash in 2020. 

[triffid]

Yes, not a typo. More than 300 accounting for some that slid down the drain or got chopped in half. Didn't know it was extraordinary but I was quite amazed when I put my hand in and kept pulling out more and more
Hope yours do even better!

[Klaus Brugger]

Let me know if you want some seed. I did prepare a smaller pumpkin that slipped off the vine prematurely and it definitely tasted much different.. difficult to describe, nice flavour but more 'vegetabley'. Making my own squash gnocchi is something I'm yet to attempt 

Thank you, I think I already have some seeds somewhere  . Premature maximas sure can be interesting too. I don't know why almost exclusively pepos are used as summer squashes where I live.
The gnocchi recipe is extremely simple. Basically just mashed squash, wheat flour, and a little bit of salt. Form gnocchi and cook in salt water ...

[Petra Suckling]

Yes, not a typo. More than 300 accounting for some that slid down the drain or got chopped in half. Didn't know it was extraordinary but I was quite amazed when I put my hand in and kept pulling out more and more
Hope yours do even better!

As I tend to do just one hand pollination with usually only one or at most two male flowers, it does account for a smaller seed count than bee pollinated.  There can be many bee visits and probably at more optimum times and temperatures.
But 300 seeds I have never seen in any cucurbit.  Excellent. 

[Lauren]

I didn't realize that large seed numbers were unusual. Until this year (new varieties I've never grown before) I've consistently gotten massive handfuls of seeds from the squashes I let go to full maturity. Black Beauty was a wash--no seeds at all. Purchased cucumber plants were a wash--no seeds at all. Half a dozen seeds from a yellow crookneck given to me by a friend. I thought I was doing something wrong!