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  #1 (permalink)   Report Post  
Frank
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

We were at the local pumpkin patch and we decided to buy a couple to cook a
few recipes with.

The kids decided to buy a white colored pumpkin and one that is gray (or
gray with a blue/green tinge).

Are these pumpkins OK to eat? Is their flavor different from a run of the
mill orange pumpkin?

We have never seen the gray variety before.

Are these destined to become jack-o-lanterns, or Saturday's dinner and
dessert?

Thanks!
Frank


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A.T. Hagan
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 23:58:52 -0700, "Frank"
> wrote:

>We were at the local pumpkin patch and we decided to buy a couple to cook a
>few recipes with.
>
>The kids decided to buy a white colored pumpkin and one that is gray (or
>gray with a blue/green tinge).
>
>Are these pumpkins OK to eat? Is their flavor different from a run of the
>mill orange pumpkin?
>
>We have never seen the gray variety before.
>
>Are these destined to become jack-o-lanterns, or Saturday's dinner and
>dessert?
>
>Thanks!
>Frank
>


They may be sweeter or less sweet depending on what you've eaten
before. Perhaps drier, or moister, maybe stringier or not. But
they'll all be good to eat. The color of the rind is meaningless.
The cucurbit family of which winter squashes and pumpkins are a part
sports a large variety of rind colors but there's not a terrible lot
of difference on the inside. To give more specific answers we'd have
to know the variety names of the fruit that you bought.

The big orange Jack O'Lantern type of pumpkins are usually a bit more
watery, stringier, and perhaps not quite as sweet as the smaller pie
type pumpkins and the other winter squashes like the Hubbards and so
on usually have a bit better flavor, in my opinion. Open one up and
see!

......Alan.


--
Curiosity killed the cat -
lack of it is killing mankind.
  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
Puester
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

Frank wrote:
>
> We were at the local pumpkin patch and we decided to buy a couple to cook a
> few recipes with.
>
> The kids decided to buy a white colored pumpkin and one that is gray (or
> gray with a blue/green tinge).
>
> Are these pumpkins OK to eat? Is their flavor different from a run of the
> mill orange pumpkin?
>
> We have never seen the gray variety before.
>
> Are these destined to become jack-o-lanterns, or Saturday's dinner and
> dessert?
>
> Thanks!
> Frank




I can't tell you abnout the white one, but the
grey one sounds like a Blue Hubbard squash--yum!
Squash vary mostly in their water and sugar
content. BH is a good, drier one. I vote for
dinner and dessert.

gloria p
  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dave Smith
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

Frank wrote:

>
> Are these pumpkins OK to eat? Is their flavor different from a run of the
> mill orange pumpkin?


I doubt if you could tell the difference. You can make pumpkin pie with just
about any kind of squash.

  #5 (permalink)   Report Post  
Julia Altshuler
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

About 20 years ago when I was getting interested in cooking, I decided
to try all those wildly shaped and lovely colored winter squashes that I
saw in the grocery store this time of year. I went through them all,
baking each one in turn and deciding what I thought of them. They did
taste different but not in such a distinctive way that I had any clear
preference. I decided to stick with the ordinary. I like acorn squash
and butternut more because they're readily available and an easy size to
work with. Since then, I've found enormous variety within the variety.
I've had acorn squash that were fabulous-- sweet, flavorful, perfect,
the sort of thing you buy a bunch of, bake up and want to eat 3 times a
day while the good luck lasts. Then I've gone back to the same table at
the same store, gotten the next shipment and had them be starchy and
sawdusty. If I could figure out how to choose a good squash from
picking it up in the supermarket, I'd be a happy woman.

--Lia



  #6 (permalink)   Report Post  
Frank
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins


"Puester" > wrote in message
...
> Frank wrote:
> >
> > We were at the local pumpkin patch and we decided to buy a couple to

cook a
> > few recipes with.
> >
> > The kids decided to buy a white colored pumpkin and one that is gray (or
> > gray with a blue/green tinge).
> >
> > Are these pumpkins OK to eat? Is their flavor different from a run of

the
> > mill orange pumpkin?
> >
> > We have never seen the gray variety before.
> >
> > Are these destined to become jack-o-lanterns, or Saturday's dinner and
> > dessert?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Frank

>
>
>
> I can't tell you abnout the white one, but the
> grey one sounds like a Blue Hubbard squash--yum!
> Squash vary mostly in their water and sugar
> content. BH is a good, drier one. I vote for
> dinner and dessert.
>
> gloria p


The gray one is definitely not a Blue Hubbard. Mine is a typical pumpkin
shape and the skin is nice and smooth and shiny. The pictures of Blue Hub
that I saw on the internet today are more typical elongated squash shapes.
Also those Blue Hub seem to grow rather large in the 20# range and both my
white one and gray one are both about 6 pounds each.

I can email pictures if anyone is really interested.

But from the other responses here, I think we will cook them both and see
what happens. One will become a soup and we'll use its hollowed out shell
as the serving dish and the other we'll find something creative to do with
that one as well. Some kind of dinner-in-a-pumpkin dish, I think.


  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Rhonda Anderson
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

"Frank" > wrote in
:

> We were at the local pumpkin patch and we decided to buy a couple to
> cook a few recipes with.
>
> The kids decided to buy a white colored pumpkin and one that is gray
> (or gray with a blue/green tinge).
>
> Are these pumpkins OK to eat? Is their flavor different from a run of
> the mill orange pumpkin?
>
> We have never seen the gray variety before.
>


I'm more used to the grey/blue varieties than the orange. I've never seen a
large orange pumpkin (of the sort I see made into jack-o-lanterns on US
shows/websites etc) in the store here. Mini orange ones, yes, like golden
nuggets etc. Butternut pumpkins are a vaguely orangey colour I suppose,
though quite pale. The other pumpkins I see (although they tend to be more
often sold in pieces rather than whole) are Queensland Blue
(bluey/green/grey skin), Jarrahdale (grey skin), Jap (green skin with
yellow flecks). They all have orange flesh of different shades.

So grey skinned pumpkins are definitely edible. Don't know what type you've
got, but this website has photos of Jarrahdale and Queensland Blue on their
site, http://www.ebfarm.com/farmstand_pumpkin-id.html and they also have a
white pumpkin - didn't see if there was any info on it though.


--
Rhonda Anderson
Penrith, NSW, Australia
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Cate
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
news:diFlb.2699$Tr4.18481@attbi_s03...

If I could figure out how to choose a good squash from
> picking it up in the supermarket, I'd be a happy woman.


I've never in my life cooked any type of winter squash, but I'm interested
in learning. So my ears pricked up the other day when I heard a weekly
5-minute cooking tips segment on my local NPR station that featured local
chefs talking about how to buy squash and what to make with them.

You probably already know this, but being a squash newbie, I didn't. The
chefs said to pick squash that seemed very heavy for their size.

They also gave recipes for butternut squash with pears, and butternut
gorgonzola puffs. Mmmm.

Cate



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Julia Altshuler
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

I'm sorry I missed the spot. For all my experimenting with winter
squash, I cook them pretty much the same-- split, scoop out seeds, bake
face down until soft, then keep baking until softer and sweeter. From
there, if they're sweet enough, I serve as is. If not, they get butter
or brown sugar. Long ago I used to make a recipe that involved stuffing
them with sauteed apples and onions, then topping with cheese.

Tell me what the featured chefs said about buying them. I know to
choose ones that are heavy for their size (meaning that if 2 are the
same size, choose the heavier). Other than that, I haven't a clue as to
how to find one that's sweet and flavorful.

The butternut gorgonzola puffs sound interesting.

Getting a little off topic. I don't normally count on finding good food
at airports, but running through Chicago's O'Hare to catch a connecting
flight, we got butternut soup to go at Wolfgang Puck's. It was
wonderful. I could hardly believe it, but I said to my boyfriend
"imagine getting this soup at a fine restaurant instead of plastic
fast-food joint." We both agreed it was as good as anything we'd gotten
at fancier places.

--Lia


Cate wrote:

> I've never in my life cooked any type of winter squash, but I'm interested
> in learning. So my ears pricked up the other day when I heard a weekly
> 5-minute cooking tips segment on my local NPR station that featured local
> chefs talking about how to buy squash and what to make with them.
>
> You probably already know this, but being a squash newbie, I didn't. The
> chefs said to pick squash that seemed very heavy for their size.
>
> They also gave recipes for butternut squash with pears, and butternut
> gorgonzola puffs. Mmmm.
>
> Cate
>
>
>


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Cate
 
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Default Flavors of pumpkins

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
news:cw0mb.5941$9E1.29722@attbi_s52...

> Tell me what the featured chefs said about buying them. I know to
> choose ones that are heavy for their size (meaning that if 2 are the
> same size, choose the heavier). Other than that, I haven't a clue as to
> how to find one that's sweet and flavorful.


I wish I could tell you more about that, but I wasn't listening closely
until I heard the word gorgonzola. Here it is on the local affiliate's web
site: http://www.wypr.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=features&id=4 I don't think
they have audio files, but there are recipes from this spot and from old
ones.

> The butternut gorgonzola puffs sound interesting.


I take it back. I disinctly heard the words 'gorgonzola puffs' but the web
site (above) has a recipe for butternut gorgonzola soufflette.

> Getting a little off topic. I don't normally count on finding good food
> at airports, but running through Chicago's O'Hare to catch a connecting
> flight, we got butternut soup to go at Wolfgang Puck's. It was
> wonderful. I could hardly believe it, but I said to my boyfriend
> "imagine getting this soup at a fine restaurant instead of plastic
> fast-food joint." We both agreed it was as good as anything we'd gotten
> at fancier places.


Hm. The only place I've ever had butternut soup is at Moosewood, and it
turned me onto eating squash. It was delicious--not too doctored up. The
flavor really came through. Wish I could say that about the rest of
Moosewood's food.

Cate


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