15 Heirloom Squash Varieties Perfect for the Thanksgiving Table

Heirloom winter squashes carry distinctive taste and variety to the desk. The seasonal favorites yield distinctive and versatile fruits in taste, kind, and coloration.

Heirloom greens characterize our heritage crops, cultural foodways, and picks preserved for distinctive taste and rising qualities. The time period “heirloom” varies with regards to greens. It could possibly imply vegetation grown earlier than 1951, when the primary hybrids grew to become commercially accessible, or vintage varieties handed down from era to era for preservation.

Some seeds have ancestral roots in Africa and Asia, or European varieties as previous as 400 years, or with indigenous cultures who’ve cultivated picks for hundreds of years. As we speak’s heirlooms carry these strains, refined and tailored to geographical rising situations.

What higher time than Thanksgiving to incorporate heirloom crops into the feast and festivities? With so many wealthy picks, it’s simple to combine historical past and tradition into what we develop and eat.

Honeynut

Honeynut Winter Squash Seeds

Lakota

Lakota Winter Squash Seeds

Purple Kuri

Purple Kuri Winter Squash Seeds

Heirloom Winter Squash Overview

Winter squashes, like butternuts and pumpkins, mature in late summer time and fall, whereas summer time squashes, like zucchini and pattypan, have a tendency to provide extra shortly over the summer time. Winter picks take longer to develop their hefty fruits with thick skins.

Simply grown from seed, winter squash is often sown in spring or early summer time to yield the autumn harvest. Their lengthy vines develop alongside the bottom, on vertical helps like trellises and arches, and in raised beds and containers. Dwarf varieties could mature earlier and swimsuit each small area gardens and people with a brief rising season.

The cucurbits develop greatest in full solar (six hours or extra of day by day daylight). They like organically wealthy, moist, and well-draining soils. They typically boast a protracted storage life post-harvest and are pretty contemporary or displayed.

‘Speckled Swan’ Laborious-Shelled Gourd

	botanical identify Lagenaria siceraria
	peak 8-12’ vines

These decorative gourds carry late-season curiosity to the show. Their darkish inexperienced pores and skin has flecks of creamy, lighter inexperienced. They attain 14-16 inches lengthy with extensive bases that funnel to a swan-shaped neck.

‘Speckled Swan’ is a enjoyable addition amongst different gourds and fall-themed decor. They’re glorious for long-lasting contemporary preparations and for drying and craft makes use of.

These swans develop vigorously on climbing helps and may carry a little bit shade to scorching backyard areas. The cute younger goosenecks flip into full-fledged swans by season’s finish.

‘Tromboncino’

	botanical identify Cucurbita moschata ‘Tromboncino’
	peak 15’ vines

‘Tromboncino,’ additionally referred to as ‘Zucchino Rampicante,’ is an Italian heirloom squash. Whereas the lengthy fruits mature within the cool season, they’re equally tasty when harvested younger, inexperienced, and tender in the summertime. They supply a flavorful stand-in for summer time squash and develop their butternut traits within the fall.

Trellis or arch the vigorous vines to observe the lengthy, slender fruits develop as they cling. The distinctive squash is a dialog piece and reaches as much as three ft lengthy.

C. moschata is extra proof against squash vine borer infestations than different species. Its thick, clean stems make them much less accessible throughout egg-laying and larval cycles.

‘Honeynut’

	botanical identify Cucurbita moschata ‘Honeynut’
	peak 2-3’ vines

‘Honeynut’ is one other moschata choice with good squash vine borer and powdery mildew resistance. This hybrid is out of Cornell’s breeding program and crosses butternut and buttercup varieties for a really candy and clean texture.

The petite fruits are 4 to 5 inches lengthy. They begin mottled inexperienced and ripen to mellow orange-red. These butternuts retailer for as much as six months. Quick, bushy vines make the dense grower excellent for vertical conditions and small areas.

‘Jack Be Little’

	botanical identify Cucurbita pepo ‘Jack Be Little’
	peak 3-5’ vines

This cute miniature pumpkin is right for trellising in containers as a specimen plant. You can too develop it on small A-frames or obelisks. 

The little pumpkins develop solely three to 4 inches in diameter and two inches excessive. Six to 10 fruits per plant gentle up the vine in brilliant orange. Use them for consuming and stuffing or for decorations. They retailer for as much as one yr.

The small fruits develop on compact vines. To develop them in containers, select a five-gallon or bigger pot at the very least 18 inches deep. 

‘Inexperienced-Striped Cushaw’

	botanical identify Cucurbita argyrosperma ‘Inexperienced-Striped Cushaw’
	peak 20’ vines

These striped crook-necks are as enticing as they’re tasty. White pores and skin has gentle and darkish inexperienced mottling. A dependable producer, ‘Inexperienced-Striped’ has vigorous vines that resist most pests, together with squash vine borer. 

The flesh is medium-textured and lightweight in coloration with a mildly candy taste. Fruits are 18 inches lengthy and 10 inches extensive on the base. These are greatest loved and displayed near harvesting since they don’t final so long as others in storage.

‘Seminole’ Pumpkin

	botanical identify Cucurbita moschata ‘Seminole’
	peak 25’

Seminole pumpkins are ultimate picks for southern gardens. A number of tribes in Florida, together with the Seminole, Creek, Miccosukee, Muscogee, and Calusa, cultivated the choice.

The massive vines produce six-inch bell fruits with agency, deep orange flesh. The flavour is sweeter than different butternuts, making it a very good substitute for pumpkin. Harvest in autumn or decide younger and early fruits for summer time squash.

The cultivar options glorious mildew resistance and hard stems to defend in opposition to moths and caterpillars. Mature pumpkins weigh six to 12 kilos and develop on lengthy, leafy vines.

‘Lakota’

	botanical identify Cucurbita maxima ‘Lakota’
	peak 10-20’ vines

This ornamental selection is as scrumptious as it’s decorative. Deep crimson orange with variations in inexperienced mottling, the pear-shaped fruits weigh between 4 and eight kilos.

This baking sort has orange flesh that’s clean, candy, and nutty. It performs in varied situations with ease however is frost-sensitive and greatest harvested earlier than the primary heavy freeze. Roast the seeds for a wholesome snack.

Not technically a real heirloom squash, ‘Lakota’ is a results of a century of hybridization. It started with an unnamed selection that cross-pollinated in private gardens and as unfold as shared seeds. Later, it crossed with a ‘Hubbard’ squash. The College of Nebraska made it genetically secure.

‘Purple Kuri’

	botanical identify Cucurbita maxima ‘Purple Kuri’
	peak 4-6’

‘Purple Kuri’ is great within the kitchen and small area gardens. Vines attain solely about 5 ft and develop properly in containers and on vertical helps. They produce three to four-pound teardrops which can be melon orange and candy like pumpkins.

Additionally referred to as ‘Orange Hokkaido’ or ‘Child Purple Hubbard,’ these are widespread for his or her creamy texture and chestnut taste. They’re good choices for short-growing seasons and chilly climates, growing shortly on compact types.

‘Purple Kuri’ is a Japanese selection (kuri means “chestnut”) that produces two to 5 vegetation per plant. They’re ultimate for steaming, roasting, and baking.

‘Pink Banana’

	botanical identify Cucurbita maxima ‘Pink Banana’
	peak 12-15’

‘Pink banana’ makes a press release within the harvest show as a big, salmon pink selection (18 to 24 inches lengthy!). Within the dish, it’s sugary and tender, excellent for baking into pies along with aspect dishes. Develop this one, and also you’ll wish to present it off.

Every fruit weighs 10 to 12 kilos and has a brilliant golden-orange inside. The seed cavity is slender, leaving extra room for the “meat.”

Native to Argentina and Uraguay, historic cultures utilized banana squash, as did American pioneers. ‘Pink Banana’ brings a historic staple to the Thanksgiving desk.

‘Vegetable Spaghetti’

	botanical identify Cucurbita pepo ‘Vegetable Spaghetti’
	peak 8-12’ vines

Spaghetti, or “gold string melon,” is native to the U.S. and Mexico. Its stringy inside masquerades as strands of pasta. 

When cooked, the flesh separates simply into skinny items for a nest of wholesome “spaghetti” with a impartial taste able to go together with something. It additionally stands alone after boiling or baking with a little bit of butter or oil.

Rinds and interiors are pale yellow, and every fruit reaches 8 to 12 inches lengthy.

‘Galeux d’Eysines’

	botanical identify Cucurbita maxima ‘Galeux d’Eysines’
	peak 10’15’ vines

Should you’re having fun with the offbeat pumpkin pattern as a lot as we’re, ‘Galeux d’Eysines’ is an attractive addition to the group. In buff peach, the pastel gourds have bumpy outer skins for a novel texture. Sugars crystallize beneath the pores and skin and trigger the raised areas; a warty pumpkin is a candy pumpkin!

Additionally referred to as the “peanut” pumpkin due to its tough and bumpy shell, ‘Galeux’ has clean orange flesh. The 12-inch diameter rounds weigh 10 to fifteen kilos. 

The French heirloom has a excessive sugar content material, is wealthy in soups and sauces, and is flexible in delicacies. Avoid wasting for consuming (they retailer for as much as six months) and others for the centerpiece.

‘Luffa’

	botanical identify Luffa aegyptiaca
	peak 20’ vines

For cleansing up after the Thanksgiving feast, these scrubber gourds turn out to be useful! These heirloom squash additionally make enjoyable present equipment.

Develop these lengthy vines on a fence or arbor (nice partial shade to underplanted crops in scorching summer time climates) and reap the attention-grabbing rewards in late summer time.

Luffa (additionally spelled “loofah”) produce one to two-foot-long inexperienced fruits with a densely fibrous inside. Skins are simple to peel, revealing the scrubbing sponges we’re used to. 

Let luffa ripen (pores and skin will brown or yellow and pull again simply from the fibers). Peel and shake out inside seeds to be used on dishes, within the bathtub, and gifting an all-natural spa accent.

Luffas do properly in heat soils and are greatest sown outdoor two to 4 weeks after the ultimate frost. They’ll thrive in summer time warmth in full solar and tolerate gentle shade.

‘Desk Queen’

	botanical identify Cucurbita pepo ‘Desk Queen’
	peak 10-15’ vines

This acorn heirloom units the usual individual-sized fall squashes. The Iowa Seed Firm launched ‘Desk Queen’ out of Des Moines in 1913. 

Vines yield shiny, darkish inexperienced one-pound rounds with high-quality yellow-orange flesh. With a sugary inside, the petite acorns are excellent for baking. 

An early maturing, compact selection from the College of Connecticut in 1974 is ‘Desk King,’ an All-America Choices winner. It matures in 80 days on compact, four-foot bushes.

‘Delicata’

	botanical identify Cucurbita maxima ‘Delicata’
	peak 12’

A favourite even now, ‘Delicata’ is an heirloom squash from 1894 and boasts a excessive sugar content material in its fine-textured, golden interiors. Fruits are candy proper off the vine with a skinny pores and skin for straightforward work within the kitchen.

The elongated loafs are creamy-white with orangey tones and darkish inexperienced stripes and flecks. Every grows about eight inches lengthy and 4 inches extensive, weighing in at one to 3 kilos. Storage time is just a few months, so take pleasure in this one to heat up chilly fall and winter evenings.

‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’

	botanical identify Cucurbita maxima ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’
	peak 10’ vines

‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ is the well-known ‘Cinderella’ pumpkin, and our heirloom record can be remiss with out it. The melon-orange beauties are a seasonal favourite from Paris within the Eighties and the inspiration behind the fairytale princess’ cucurbit carriage.