The Great Japanese Pumpkin

Yesterday, I told you that I would be doing a recipe experiment and that I would then tell you all about the results today. Unfortunately, that statement was both true and misleading because although I did do some adventure baking last night, today, I realized that before I can tell you about that experiment, I need to tell you about what we shall, from this day forward, call The Great Japanese Pumpkin.

In the beginning there was a friendly neighbor and a farmers co-op...

Each week, a couple of my neighbors and I share goodish-sized box of organic produce. What happens is a local farming co-op pulls together boxes of what they like to call produce. What we get is a box filled to the brim with wrinkled, spotted, odd, twisted varieties of things that look like they might have wanted to be fruits and veggies at one time but failed to qualify.

For example, the first couple boxes we received were full of beaten and bruised plums so ugly... you know how that saying goes. We were faced with eating a bushel of plums that were so wrinkly they should have been called PRUNES from birth, and we neighbors blinked and gaped and stared and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into.

But, here is the thing, it turns out that those plums were the best I have ever tasted! EVER! Which leads me to the new belief that the uglier the produce, the better it tastes. Ooo! Much like books and covers, and hearts vs. faces, and so on. No judging till you know what is on the inside, right?

Anyhoo, in addition to filling us with ripe and wonderful veggies (excuse me while I wipe juice off my chin) joining the co-op has also introduced us to some produce that we would have NEVER tried otherwise.

This is what my share of the haul might look like on any given Tuesday.
Tomatoes that taste like tomatoes! Yum! Those pears? To die for!

And that squash? Well, to start, yep, it is, in fact, a squash. Surprise! It is The Great Japanese Pumpkin.

You see, some of the stuff the farmers send is just too weird and wacky to be believed, and looking at the green pumpkin sideways, when it came time to divvy up the produce, my friendly neighbor crinkled her nose and heaved it my direction.
Uhmmm. Lucky me.

It is a pretty sort of harvest-y, gourd-y, pumpkin-y squash, and I was half tempted just to use it as decor, but then I wondered, "How bunnies feel about squash?"

No, no, no! That would never do. No, bunnies, no! If there was any tasting to be done around here, it would be done by us not them!

But how exactly? What to do with it? What is it?

According to the farmers, this is a Kabocha Squash or Japanese Pumpkin.
The above photo provides Kabocha squash details meant to be filed away with "random stuff you know." Sadly the type in the picture might be too tiny to read ... much less file. Sorry.

Oh well. To sum up, the Kabocha squash is sometimes called Japanese pumpkin due to the fact that it is thought to have originated in Japan. Its innards are orange and sweet and similar in taste and texture to a pumpkin, butternut squash or a sweet potato. The green, outer rind is also edible and according to our farmers, highly nutritious. Be my guest if you are feeling that adventurous and let me know what you think.

Anyone else out there ever heard of this squash?
Pictured above is a recipe that the farmers sent along with the squash - also tiny. Sorry again. They actually sent two, but I decided to experiment with a couple of pumpkin bread recipes instead.

So, that brings us around to my adventures in baking last night. Tomorrow, tune in for The Great Japanese Pumpkin experiment results!

Also, if you live in the area, information about the co-op we are enjoying can be found here:
https://www.abundantharvestorganics.com/case_contents.php
If you don't live here, don't be dismayed! Co-ops are available in lots of areas across the states-- just dig around your town a bit for one. They are totally worth the effort!