The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Fruit and Vegetables => Topic started by: Alisdair on October 30, 2011, 11:17:44 AM
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Pumpkins and summer and winter squashes are traditional mediterranean-climate staples.
Which varieties to members find most rewarding for taste?
And are members able to ripen any varieties without supplementary water before the really hot weather sets in?
We grow quite a few here in the UK, and set up a display for people on the lane past our house to enjoy (we're particularly fond of the way the various Hubbard varieties look so like plump little animals or birds, as in the second picture). Photos taken on this wet morning, as it's Hallowe'en.
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As lifelong pumpkin eaters (pumpkins are as important in the New Zealand diet from babyhood as are potatoes) we find that the sweetest and best pumpkins are the green skinned Hokkaido variety sometimes called Kabocha. We also enjoyed a variety called 'Ironbark' although I have never seen them in the UK. Pumpkins are the most delicious, healthy and underrated (in the UK) vegetable. In our early days on arriving in London we would traipse up to Norfolk once a year in November and get a sackful from an organic farmer and eke them out over the year. Then, they were not available for human consumption only for animal fodder. We get great pumpkins here in Spain. I bought one yesterday.
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Thanks for the tip, Pamela. We do grow Kabocha and like it a lot. Have never tried Ironbark (which from its name must be a brilliant keeper).
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We occasionally eat pumkin, mostly in soups though I am not over keen personally! I seem to remember the best in a tasing we did a few years ago was a blue (grey) skinned variety, probably Australian. This topic has allowed me to slip in a favourite topic of mine Begonia. Not really acceptable in true med terms but I can use it to mention that it is a very close relative of the Cucurbitaceae. If you look at the female flowers the stigmas are very similar in both families.
The first one is a colour match for your pumpkins Begonia 'Glowing Embers' a new very floriferous tuberous cultivar which produces lots af male flowers. . Followed by a female flower on the quite hardy Begonia chitoensis. This one shows the stigma well.
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John, I had to laugh, trust you to find a way of mentioning begonias under Pumpkins!
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I'm just worried about how much soup you will have to eat!
Don't think that this will be the only connection to Begonias!!!!!!
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Pamela, thanks for the Ironbark suggestion - always glad to add another tasty pumpkin to our list. I've been trying to track down Ironbark seed and have found some on e-bay. I just wanted to check with you if the ones you liked were green and knobbly on the outside and golden yellow on the inside. We've found two lots of pics one of which is smooth and grey rather than knobbly. Will hold my breath before putting in a bid for some seed!
Helena
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Helena ..the ones we ate when we were young were smooth and grey. You may have one in your picture of pumpkins. Its at about 1 o'clock directly underneath a small orange one. Strangely the Ironbark pumpkin when cooked had a paper thin skin which one could peel off. It had a delicious flavour always very sweet and as children we loved it.
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Here we go again!!!!!!!
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Naughty boy, if you'd checked for Digimarc you'd have seen the copyright notice said Restricted Use, Do Not Copy - but forgiven! (just having fun, gently hoisting you with your own petard... ;) )
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Pamela, thanks for the Ironbark description (the smoother grey-skinned one came up when I googled Irohnbar so we'll try and track seed of that down). The one-o'clock pumpkin is called Crown Prince, a favourite of our pumpkin-rather-than-potatoes neighbour who says it has the best taste. Perhaps it's an Ironbark in disguise!
And, John, I love our "disguised" chickens - could be our Christmas card this year!!