# Squash or Pumpkin?



## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

Which is it and how do I fix it?








Thanks
Nancy


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Squash- cucurbita maxima. That will be tasty! I would clean the seeds and stringy placenta out and save a few seeds, and then bake it.


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

Thanks, that is what I thought it was but DH (20 years retired Navy, never had a garden till we married) swore up and down it was pumpkin. ( do not think they had a garden on board, that's what I keep telling him anyway)

Will it freeze well? as it is way more than we can eat now.

Nancy


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Cook it and scrape out the flesh (pulp) and bag is in portion sizes and it will freeze well.

ps. Commercial canneries use more Hubbard squash as "pumpkin" than actual "pumpkin". Pumpkins _are_ squash.


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

Thanks, I can always get good info here.
Nancy


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## Corky (May 11, 2002)

a pumpkin IS a squash.


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2010)

Corky said:


> a pumpkin IS a squash.


True!


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Most of Libby's pumpkin is Dickinson which is basically an oversized butternut squash. I recall several years ago when there were harvest problems in Illinois but some growers in surrounding states were able to supply enough to avoid a shortage. In that case, it did not matter what variety is used as the results are the same.

Martin


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

Paquebot said:


> Most of Libby's pumpkin is Dickinson which is basically an oversized butternut squash. I recall several years ago when there were harvest problems in Illinois but some growers in surrounding states were able to supply enough to avoid a shortage. In that case, it did not matter what variety is used as the results are the same.
> 
> Martin


I never realized that until I watched a field being harvested here this fall and did notice that the "pumpkins" were huge, oblong, and kind of a pale orange-tan. 
IL had a poor pumpkin harvest last year too because of alot of late season rain. Corn and beans were still being picked in Dec. and Jan. 
The deer were sure fat though!


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## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

I have used my butternut squash to make pumpkin pie for years and no one , not even my mother , could tell the difference


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Anyone bake their squash whole, easier to cut those hard ones. Spaghetti squash is so much better that way too. Remove seeds and scoop out the meat. Any one cut squash pieces to size, steam it 1/2 done and dry it for snacks, a little butter brushed on top and sprinkle with season salt....James


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## Eyes Wide Open (Oct 14, 2010)

That photo is a hubbard squash, yeah. 

And I agree with the others, most squashes are reasonably interchangable. I make pumpkin pie with butternut squash and acorn squash all the time. Some do have somewhat different properties, like the spaghetti squash. Also the delicata squash is similar enough to be used interchangably but it does seem a little different somehow. My favorites are pie pumpkins and butternut squashes though. 

I haven't tried baking my squash whole - I always cut in half and scoop out the seeds. But that method is so much better than my old way of trying to cube raw squash and cut off the skin - ugh, so much wasted time, food and frustration when it's so easy to bake and scoop the meat right out!


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

True pumpkins are C Pepo. C Pepo, imho, tastes like crap. So butternut, buttercup, or any of the maxima types, will always be able to fill in for a true pumpkin and actually taste better.....


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

chamoisee said:


> True pumpkins are C Pepo. C Pepo, imho, tastes like crap. So butternut, buttercup, or any of the maxima types, will always be able to fill in for a true pumpkin and actually taste better.....


I'll have to ponder on that one! Buttercup is C. maxima while Butternut is C. moschata. The preferred one for Libby's, Dickinson, is C. moschata. Connecticut Field is C. pepo and has been a favorite for canning and pies for a long time. 

Martin


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Right, the moschata types are good for eating too. The Connecticut Fields that I grew, I didn't eat....fed them to the goats...so I honestly don't know what they taste like! They looked stringy and I had maximas coming out of my ears because I was trying to breed them, so I just ate the maxima squash. 

For some reason, I have never been able to get Butternut to ripen here in northern Idaho. Perhaps it prefers warm nights.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Were one to dismiss all pumpkin varieties due to texture, there wouldn't be many left to be used for pies. Pumpkin pie filling is supposed to be super smooth. If you look for recipes which start with an intact pumpkin, regardless of type, they will inviariably call for cooking it in chunks and then forcing it through a sieve. I have not grown CT Field but have grown and eaten similar types. The spices make them all pretty much taste the same. 

Martin


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