Cucurbita pepo
Origin: Likely Abenaki and neighboring peoples
Improvement status: Cultivar
Seeds per packet: ~20
Germination tested 11/2025: 80%
Life cycle: Annual
Long Pie' is an old-fashioned, oblong, chunky-zucchini-shaped winter squash with smooth, dense, sweet and stringless flesh great for pies. Like its round orange pumpkin cousins, it begins as dark green before ripening to orange (usually post-harvest). Properly cured fruit can keep for five months or so, with their flavor improving in storage. This heirloom is widely believed to be a direct descendant (if not very much the same) as an old Abenaki squash occasionally available under the name 'Algonquin'. This one is sometimes found under the name 'Nantucket Pie Pumpkin,' for it has long been popular on Nantucket Island as well. Not often seen beyond New England and New York, where it can still be found in local markets, this is a very nice, historic squash that deserves to be much more widely known. Once you try a pie made from 'Long Pie', you'll never buy canned pumpkin again!
Our seed comes from our friends Cody Egan and Dylan Bruce of Driftless Seed Supply in Wisconsin. (Note: The fruit are depicted with a few 'Red Kuri' squash in a couple of the photos here.)
GROWING TIPS: Direct-sow after all danger of frost has passed and soil begins to warm. Can be planted in mounds. Give plenty of room for plants to sprawl.
