Cucurbita moschata
Origin: Guatemala
Improvement status: Landrace
Seeds per packet: ~15
Germination tested 12/2021: 86%
Life cycle: Annual
NOTE: 1 packet limit per customer.
Known simply as "ayote" in Guatemala (the same name is for other Cucurbita moschata squash with the typical orange flesh, and sometimes for Cucurbita argyrosperma squash), it really is supposed to look like the pictures. This is a winter squash with green flesh. The flavor is surprisingly delicious, with all the sweet richness of a great butternut, but some additional flavors that are hard to put a finger on (spinach? candied papaya?). The scent of the raw squash is different too, with something distinctly tropical to it.
This is definitely a landrace: the whole population demonstrates a lot of diversity with respect to shape, size, interior color, and ripening time. Most of the plants take a long time to ripen, though we are starting to select for the earliest ripening fruits. We can't recommend this for people with a short season, but perhaps we will be able to in the future if we develop a northern-adapted strain. Some of the fruit only a hint of green flesh to them, or even none at all. We are in the midst of the long process of roguing out the least green-fleshed plants with the hopes of one day developing a uniformly green population, but we figured it was time to get this squash out there so others can have as much fun with it as we have!
It was offered commercially only once before, as far as we know, by our original source for seeds, Edmund Frost of Common Wealth Seed Growers in Virginia. These were grown by EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman at the EFN flagship farm in Elmer, New Jersey.
GROWING TIPS: Give plenty of room to sprawl. Start early, indoors, because this squash requires a long growing season, so it's best to get a head start.
DUE TO HIGH DEMAND FOR THESE SEEDS WE ARE INSTITUTING A LIMIT OF 1 PACKET PER CUSTOMER! (Please do not request more than one packet of these seeds. The system will allow you to, but then we will be forced to refund your money.)
