Kabocha Squash

We are trying a new squash this year.
This is a Japanese variety, very popular in Mexico.

I took some to Mexican friends, and they were delighted.
They had been looking for this squash, and it is not available locally.
I had never tasted it, and they fixed it while I was there.
They cut it into small cubes, skin on, and added water, cinnamon sticks, and lots of brown sugar.
It was delicious, but perhaps too sweet for me.

I couldn't wait to try it.
I cut it into four pieces.
(I don't have the strength to chop small.  It's very hard.)
Put it into the dutch oven with a bit of water.
Cook until tender.

My friends mashed theirs, skin and all.
I peeled off the skin before mashing.
It is super soft, so there is really no mashing, just toss with a fork.

I used half to make an amazing soup with candied ginger, cinnamon, salt and pepper.

The other half was served with butter, salt, pepper, and honey.

Delicious.

Grapes, Amish Paste Tomato, and Eden's Gem Melon

The first of the grapes are ripe.
Boy, are they delicious.
They have seeds, though.


We are staying a bit ahead of Late Blight, which is destroying all the tomato plants.
This is a new tomato to us, called Amish Paste.
It is an heirloom tomato.
Most of the tomatoes have split.
There is very little core, so there's not much waste.
(Although the chickens hope we would waste more.)

This pot of chopped tomatoes will be cooked down and strained to make a pint of sauce.

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The real treat today was the Eden's Gem melon.
It's an heirloom, green-fleshed muskmelon from 1881.

I can't remember the last time I ate a ripe green melon.
The ones in the stores look great, but are never ripe.

This tastes like a honeydew, but with the texture of cantaloupe.

We each enjoyed half as dessert tonight.
The rest of the dinner was chicken pot pie, fresh corn from the garden, and sliced Cherokee Purple tomato.
Excellent!