I traded for Flying Saucer seeds which is a hybrid scallop squash that is green and orange. This is what I ended up with. Any idea what it is? I don't know if it is ripe or not since I have no idea what it is. There are 3 more on the vine/bush.
This is the top.
This is the bottom.
Maybe Japanese futsu. I think it is a Japanese squash.
I'm looking on my Droid and see it is green. Probably kabocha.
Thanks. I'll look it up.
That's a kabocha! We usually scoop out the seeds, fill it with beaten eggs and broth and steam it on a low setting for about 45 min. The egg sets into a lovely custard and the squash is nice and tender and sweet. We also peel and slice it and simmer it in a broth of soysauce, mirin and dashi and eat it with rice. It makes a good tempura as well.
If you traded for seeds, most likely you have a mutt. The C. pepo species is very promiscuous and cross breeds readily, so if some one saved seeds from a Flying Saucer, it could have cross bred with a zuke, a pumpkin, an acorn or any thing in the C. pepo group. Flying saucer is itself a hybrid and will revert to earlier parentage. It also tends to turn green in hot weather. There are a number of dark green scallops arrived at in different ways. This one is not yours, but I include photo of Total Eclipse to illustrate what is is available.
This message was edited Jul 31, 2011 7:43 AM
Promiscuous is an understatement. I saved seed two years ago from five or six pepo varieties just to see what the stork would bring. What a panoply of pepos! I was assuming Cajun received named seed because even the small seed packs are too much for one year's average garden space. Maybe this will be a happy accident.
I knew the Flying Saucer was a hybrid so I knew I coulod not save seeds. I just wanted to enjoy the fruit. I assumed the person I was trading with knew that also so I thought I was getting commercial seed. I don't mind as long as I can find out what it is and when it's ripe. I'd also like to know how to cook it. Yehudith has given me some fine ideas. Is the one in the pic ripe or mayhap a bit overipe? There are about 3 more on the vine and I'd like to pick them at peak time.
Is the plant vining or bush? If vining it will have winter squash characteristics. Bush form may have summer squash or winter squash characteristics or both. The Flying Saucer is a summer squash that is used in a very immature state as is the case with all summer squash. Many of the winter squash ( acorns for example) are also used as summer squash. Many summer squash do form solid flesh also, just not very good quality. Others dry up like gourds.
It stayed closer to a bush form for the longest. Like a straightneck or a zuke but now it is beginning to vine. It is about 4 to 5 feet away from where it started now and the new fruit are growing at the end of the vine.
