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Post by canadamike on Mar 12, 2010 17:39:11 GMT -5
I am having a ball here. First there is Dan that deserves a kick in the butt for his joke, but I laughed so much I can forget him everything Then there is that ''chesnut'' taste thing everytime a vegetable wakes up UMAMI, the new discovery in our taste buds capabilities of feeling. Chesnut this, chesnut that, or else ''meaty'' here and there. I have not tasted potimarron yet, I will this summer. But there seems to be more agreement around ''meaty taste'' than ''chesnut taste''... Hey, it might taste chesnutty, I dunno. But all the others chesnut tasting things have not lived to my expectations yet. I know, I know, there is somebody that needs to have me try something here...I will,I promise
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Post by Hristo on Mar 12, 2010 18:26:03 GMT -5
Trust me Michel, it really has chestnutty flavour, but I belive there are varieties with even stronger chestnut flavour. Unfortunately before I realize those "Kabocha" seeds were not homozygous crossed it with the other (inferior) plant and past 2 years I can't find as good tasting squash. Does anyone have tried the Johnny's kabocha hybrids? Does anyone of them has strong chestnut flavour? www.johnnyseeds.com/c-574-kabocha.aspx
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Post by canadamike on Mar 12, 2010 18:59:54 GMT -5
A chesnut flavoured squash is something I can envision growing a lot in my patch...
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Post by castanea on Mar 13, 2010 12:17:39 GMT -5
Trust me Michel, it really has chestnutty flavour, but I belive there are varieties with even stronger chestnut flavour. Unfortunately before I realize those "Kabocha" seeds were not homozygous crossed it with the other (inferior) plant and past 2 years I can't find as good tasting squash. Does anyone have tried the Johnny's kabocha hybrids? Does anyone of them has strong chestnut flavour? www.johnnyseeds.com/c-574-kabocha.aspxYes, one of them does. And no, I don't remember which one it was. But many kabochas have a true chestnutty taste. The Japanese squash are usually bred to be dry rather than moist. Same for their melons, relatively speaking. I love the Asian preference for firm fleshed melons and dry fleshed squash.
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Post by Hristo on Mar 13, 2010 13:22:08 GMT -5
Thanks! Same preferences here. The mouses here too very much prefer the dry-fleshed squashes Michel, now you have a starting point. Also if you want seeds of Pottimaron will send you, have many. It's from SandHill, it's really good, but the chestnuttyness is lets say "only" 5-10% (if that helps you more)
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Post by canadamike on Mar 13, 2010 13:54:04 GMT -5
Thanks, Hristo, I have them. In fact, the LUNÉVILLE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, responsible for the survival and promotion of the wonderful Lunéville melon, is also responsible to maintain the original strain of POTIMARRON, which originates from the same area. And believe me, if you do not want to get lectured, do NOT mention Urichi Kuri ( or whatever the japanese name is). You ears will suffer ;D ;D ;D
I have a very good relationship with them, in fact I am calling the vp over the phone right after I write this, he is a member here, although we almost never see him...he needs a translating program and was member number 200, the first milestone we kind of really celebrated here.
I am waiting for a good kabocha name...
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Post by cortona on Mar 13, 2010 15:11:47 GMT -5
same here, i like the firm /dry fleshed ones! because i'm used to prepare pumpkins roasted in the owen more tan boil it!
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Post by cortona on Mar 13, 2010 15:16:07 GMT -5
sorry for late reply, the consistency of akiri kuri is not creamy is enough dry for me, not krunchy but solid enough. definitively not hubbard tipe(at least my blue hubbard from argentina is different)
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Post by bobinthebul on Jun 2, 2010 3:51:14 GMT -5
Hello from Istanbul everyone, I'm also a squash lover though I don't have the land to grow more than about 4 varieties at a time. Unless I poison my neighbors. Hmm... Anyway, as far as winter sqash use in Turkey goes, it's almost (but not entirely) limited to sweets. More about that in a minute. I can't say any of the varieties I've tasted have been too unusual. Some very good but definitely familiar flavors. There are several varieties grown here; the most common is a large gray maxima with the local name "Kestane" (chestnut). It's also referred to as Adapazarı for the town that grows a lot of it. It looks a bit like Jarrahdale but is duller, and a bit more irregular in shape. It's not particularly sweet but it hardly matters because the main use is boiling it in sugar syrup... Ηere's a picture online (They can be less flat as well): www.marulcu.com/fotos/12.jpgI sent seeds to a friend in Washington and he won't make pumpkin pie out of anything else now! There's a smaller variety grown in Uşşak that is rather variable, with more less distinct ribs. Some look almost like a smaller, sqatter Kestane while others look very similar to the one often sold as "Kabocha" in the US - gray-green, slightly squarish, with pale lines where the creases would be. It's very dense and sweet. I suspect that it might be an unstabilized cross. I saw an enormous maxima grown in the area around Aydın; it's grown in other areas in the Aegean region as well. It's very large, smooth, oval in shape with little or no ribbing, with a bit of pale orange blotching here and there. Here's a photo of a not-so-huge one grown near Manisa: img530.imageshack.us/img530/4302/wtfrm279tx6.jpg I saw others that were paler green but with a similar blotching, at a stand selling a traditional Aydın-style pumpkin jam. I asked about seed but they said, "Oh, this one only grows in Aydın, you can't grow it anywhere else!" Yeah, right, I suppose it evolved there too. Down south around Antalya there is a whole mess of moschatas of various shapes and sizes, nearly all of the fibrous and crude. Farther southeast, I saw a very large maxima that looked more or less like a pale American pumpkin had been pulled into a long shape, with a bit of a "neck." In the Black Sea they grow a C. pepo, also rather fibrous, that they use mostly in soups but sometimes in böreks as well. The main way squash is used is: Cut into chunks, macerate in lots of sugar overnight, simmer the next day till done, cool, and serve with crushed walnuts over the top. "Kestane" is the favorite variety for this but Uşşak is cooked the same way. In Antakya (Antioch) they make a soup with preserved salted yogurt, chickpeas and chunks of winter squash called borani. Recently someone has been selling "giant American squash" seeds on ebay and so if you look up "dev kabak" or "dev balkabağı" on Google image search you'll find lots of a large pale ribbed thing in addition to other more familiar things. They are recent imports.
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Post by grunt on Jun 2, 2010 5:07:42 GMT -5
bobinthebul: You cover some interesting varieties here and in your growing list. If you are interested in trading seed for a fes varieties, check out my list at tinyurl.com/ygnh8v9 . There are links in the list to albums with photos of everything on the list. I know it's too late for this year, but it's never too early to start planning. By the way, welcome to the forum! Cheers Dan
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Post by galina on Jun 2, 2010 19:34:35 GMT -5
Agreed, Potimarron/Uchiki Kuri/Red Kuri (call it as you wish) is very good, but it really has only a trace of chestnut flavour and is not nearly as flaky/crumbly as chestnut, it's more on the moist/creamy side. I have eaten much better chestnut flavoured squashes that were really dry and flaky, though less sweet that the chestnut. You are describing my favourite type of squash. Buttercup can occasionally taste like that, but it needs a warm season. Whangaparoa Crown and Queensland Blue occasionally taste that good too. Sure, soil matters, sunshine hours and sufficiently warm growing weather matter more. All maximas improve with post harvest ripening time. But I could not tell you how long this should be for best flavour, unfortunately. I have always thought that the term 'chestnut' refers to consistency rather than flavour??? Looking at various seedbank listings (and google translator in use), there are an awful lot of maxima varieties with the word 'chestnut' listed. Many with Eastern and South Eastern Europe as origin.
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Post by Hristo on Jun 3, 2010 5:02:46 GMT -5
...there are an awful lot of maxima varieties with the word 'chestnut' listed. Many with Eastern and South Eastern Europe as origin. As mine neighbour (welcome to the forum komshu (neighbour)) mentions one such variety. Here in Bulgaria all gray/blue squashes are known and called "kestenki" (feminine for chestnuts), but nearly all of nowdays varieties available are not even dry-fleshed let alone with chestnut flavour. This name is old and I believe it had been used for good reason. I know from my grandmother that in the past there had been varieties with dry flesh resembling chestnuts in consistency, but I do not know for sure if and the flavour resembled chestnuts. As I said nowdays this name still exits and still is used for all gray/blue squashes even if they are not dry nor chestnutty in flavour.
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Post by marjeta on Jun 3, 2010 8:20:20 GMT -5
The taste and consistency differs also a lot when we talk about raw or cooked meat (there's also a slight difference if we boil it or bake it - baked are more dry).
There are a lot of squash varieties that I can't eat raw and are better cooked. On the other hand there are varieties that it'd be a waste to cook them, because they taste so much better when they are raw (Delicata, Golden nugget).
Tonda padana and Jaspee de Vendee are both very sweet and tasty varieties (I only remember them cooked, not raw).
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Post by wildseed57 on Jun 4, 2010 0:25:09 GMT -5
As a young Boy my mom always fixed winter squash as a sweet dish just as she did sweet potatoes, I got really burnt out eating them that way it took my sister to show me that they were good with just some salt, pepper and some butter or served in meat based soups. I'm still leaning about the different flavors and textures. The harest part for me is flavor as my taste buds are shot. I second the welcome Bobinthebul, I'm a bit south of some of these guys, but they are all on the ball. It will be quite interesting to hear what is the best meaty and flavorsom Winter squash that has the best chestnut flavor. George W.
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Post by bobinthebul on Jun 5, 2010 10:49:39 GMT -5
Zdravo komşu! That is interesting information. It would be interesting to know just when winter squash first arrived in the region. It seems to have happened quite a long time ago; the "kara kabak" (C. pepo) grown in the Black Sea area is considered an old-fashioned vegetable that is in danger of being forgotten in some areas. I don't know that I've ever tasted a squash that really tasted like chestnuts but the local big gray one is ideally fairly dry and dense-fleshed, though not perhaps as much as a Futsu or Buttercup. ...there are an awful lot of maxima varieties with the word 'chestnut' listed. Many with Eastern and South Eastern Europe as origin. As mine neighbour (welcome to the forum komshu (neighbour)) mentions one such variety. Here in Bulgaria all gray/blue squashes are known and called "kestenki" (feminine for chestnuts), but nearly all of nowdays varieties available are not even dry-fleshed let alone with chestnut flavour. This name is old and I believe it had been used for good reason. I know from my grandmother that in the past there had been varieties with dry flesh resembling chestnuts in consistency, but I do not know for sure if and the flavour resembled chestnuts. As I said nowdays this name still exits and still is used for all gray/blue squashes even if they are not dry nor chestnutty in flavour.
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