Down on the Allotment

Matron grows vegetables and fruit in a Hampshire garden. I've been growing veggies since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Some traditional varieties and old favourites as well as new ideas. I share my garden with my allotment assistant Daisy the Labrador. On Twitter as @MatronsVeggies

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Queensland Blue Pumpkin

I still have a few Winter squash keeping well in storage. On checking this Queensland Blue Pumpkin I noticed that a little spot at the base had started to rot. Time to use this one. There are many blue skinned pumpkins down under. Our very own Crown Prince is a close relative, and comes a close second in the taste stakes! My parents used to live in New Zealand in the 1950s and discovered this Antipodean Winter Squash for themselves. Consequently growing this variety was one of my earliest memories as a child helping on the allotment. Nowadays, not that easy to come by in the UK. If you see it I can most highly recommend growing it. It really needs a brighter, drier, hotter Summer than we get here but it does OK.
It has the most amazing firm, orange flesh. It is sweet and has very little moisture in it.
Curcurbits are notorious cross-pollinators, but I seem to be doing OK so far. This is the 3rd year I have grown these from saving my own seed.
I just baked them in the oven, took the flesh from the skins, then made a sieved puree of the flesh. Eating this roast pumpkin straight from the roasting pan is heavenly! I can't eat this all at once, so I have several portions of sieved pumpkin in the freezer just for pumpkin pie!

13 Comments:

At 9:23 PM, Blogger Phoebe said...

Looks delicious Matron! We have those pumpkins and the Jap variety self seed from the compost all the time, they can be most annoying, but we keep the strongest one to let bear fruit. I love pumpkin. Favorite vegetable hands down!!!!!

 
At 9:56 PM, Blogger Rob said...

It all sounds good Matron. It won't be long now before we're starting all over again.

 
At 12:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The flesh of your pumpkin is such a rich orange...I am just discovering how many veggie dishes can be made from pumpkin...beyond the pumpkin pie. I want to try a soup with pumpkin...yours look perfect for such an experiment!

 
At 8:19 AM, Blogger Open Kitchen Concept said...

Hi, I chanced upon your blog and oh wow... I love those pumpkins.. One day, I wish I would have a piece of land to grow stuff on too..

 
At 9:08 AM, Blogger Funkbunny said...

Your pumpkin looks great. I'm growing this variety this year- there are many fruit on the vine, the largest being around 20cm in diameter at the moment. It looks as if they could get MUCH bigger!

 
At 12:27 PM, Blogger Bangchik and Kakdah said...

Pumpkin is a magnificent fruit. It's thick and waxy skin is so waterproof that it can be kept for months... Yours very delicious looking. A single pumpkin plant is growing now in my garden, and I can see a small fruit tennis ball size... I dont know long I should wait.... cheers ~bangchik

 
At 2:03 PM, Blogger Jo said...

It looks delicious. Always worth checking veg in store to make sure it's not rotting.

 
At 5:02 PM, Blogger Sue Garrett said...

We grow Crown Prince and have some to use up - your squash look to have really large seeds or is it a trick of the camera?

We pop chunks in curries and all sorts of other recipes.

 
At 8:36 PM, Blogger fer said...

So big! and tasty looking too.
I had no idea they had them in blue as well. Cool, i would like to try growing them some day too.

 
At 8:34 AM, Blogger Lrong Lim said...

wooh, good job on the pumpkin... they look so fleshy... I did not get to harvest even one fruit last season... sigh...

 
At 11:13 AM, Blogger Luke Howard-Pask said...

That looks like a great pumpkin to grow! Might have to have a go myself!

 
At 9:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love these pumpkins. Fantastic flavour. When i went to oz i couldnt stop eating them. Bought some seeds back to the uk with me. Really want to get some more seeds as i havent grown them for a few years. Roasted they
are so so yummy. Thanks for the photos.

 
At 9:46 PM, Anonymous Martin guernsey said...

I love these pumpkins. Fantastic flavour. When i went to oz i couldnt stop eating them. Bought some seeds back to the uk with me. Really want to get some more seeds as i havent grown them for a few years. Roasted they
are so so yummy. Thanks for the photos.

 

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