'Red Kuri' Squash

Cucurbita maxima

Origin: Mesoamerica via Japan

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~20

Germination tested 11/2025: 85%

Life cycle: Annual

Red Kuri' is a Japanese heirloom winter squash popular for its delicious taste, manageable size, and charming beauty. In many ways, it's like a small red Hubbard squash. "Kuri" is Japanese for "chestnut," and it is also known as potimarron in France ("poti" is shortened version of "potiron", which means pumpkin, and "marron" means chestnut), for the perceived connection between its flavor and that of chestnuts. It does have a rich, sweet flavor and relatively dry texture once cooked, both of which are distinctly reminscent of chestnuts. The skin is also rather thin and edible — which may go a long way to explaining why it isn't among the longest keepers of its species, lasting just 2 to 4 months in storage most of the time. But even so, it has become one of the most popular winter squash among farmers and consumers, increasingly available in markets throughout the US each fall.

Our seed comes from our friends Dylan Bruce and Cody Egan of Driftless Seed Supply in Wisconsin.

GROWING TIPS: Direct-sow a week or two after all danger of frost has passed. Leave room for plants to sprawl.