Cushaw

Isn't that a cute little squash

I listen to this fun podcast called Geek.Farm.Life and I once heard them talking about cushaw squash.  Being naturally curious (though nothing compared to my brother George), I decided to embark on the Cushaw express to see what delights lay ahead.  I knew winter squash can grow pretty large but I had not really considered what that meant.  They shot up pretty little heads, just like the nearby summer squash.  They vined out early, just like the summer squash…but then, something happened.  I am certain a genetic mutation occurred or some sort garden demon hexed them and caused them to send vines 20 feet or so through summer squash and zucchini and nearly to the peppers!It's got my baby!

It was madness watching these cutsie little squash grow into gigantic green and white striped widow-makers!  We harvested these when the skin became tough and they basically stopped increasing in size.  I have read that they can keep a very long time so we will have some time to experiment.  I will post again with details of how they taste and how we use them.   In the meantime, beware of these garden whales!

11 thoughts on “Cushaw

  1. OMG!! Killer squash!! 😉 I’ll be interested in finding out how they taste, how you cook ’em, and what size chainsaw you used to open ’em up!

  2. I tried a bit of the squash when they were the size of a cucumber and they tasted “green”. I hope it has a better taste when fully ripe. We may try to cook some up this weekend. Never seems to be enough time with that work junk getting in the way during the week!

  3. Holy moley! You could feed a whole family for a month with one of those! “Widow-maker”… haha, you made my day man. 🙂

    If they do taste good, I might have to try me some of those. Assuming I even dare try to grow cucurbits next year… the squash bugs have been unbelievable this year! We were lucky to get a good harvest before they invaded.

    Ron

  4. Look at that!! Those are some monster sized squash, perfect for Bigfoot and his family 😉 I’m interested to find out how they taste also, we love winter squash!

  5. Holy Crap! Those are enormous! But what beauties, eh? Do you know the history of these Squash? That names sounds very Cherokee/Creek…

  6. I know nothing of them but should find out for next year (well, especially if they are good!) so I can talk more intelligently about them. I plan to process some this weekend so we’ll see! Thanks for visiting!

  7. Holly,
    We mostly used the squash in place of pumpkin and it made better pumpkin pies than any pumpkin I ever had. We kept some probably 8 months before we used them up and for storage, we just left them on the floor in one corner of our kitchen. We did nothing special at all! I def recommend planting them next year if you can!

  8. A patient of mine gave me these seeds this spring and said no one could tell him what this squash is….But he told me they get huge. Well, with the drought, almost all the squash and watermelon and cantelope died except this one plant. It’s huge. We have at least a dozen squash and there were no squash less than a month ago. Now they are 19 inches long and 10 inches across. I had a hard time identifying them with a google search. Yours is just one of 3 websites I could find. Thanks!!! I will email you picture if you email me your address. They are fun. Not sure how they taste, though. Will make good fall ornaments if nothing else. My patient will be thrilled when I give him pictures and info about the squash.

  9. Nancy- That’s awesome that you were able to identify the squash! I emailed you and would love to see pics! Our garden was bad so any success would be great to see!

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