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joellenh_gw

Can I eat a green pumpkin?

joellenh
13 years ago

Just finished pulling up the squash and pumpkin vines. They were woven into my fence, so that was fun.

One pumpkin is seven pounds so I hate to throw it in the compost.

Can we eat it? Maybe slice it and roast it?

Jo

Comments (9)

  • joellenh
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thank you Dawn! It's very new and green. I'd say it's only been growing for under 2 weeks. There is a pic of it on the side in my basil thread. Yes, I talk too much.

    But, check it out...I found a link to a recipe with a RAVE review on Cook's Illustrated. It calls for one seven pound green pumpkin. PERFECT!

    I think I will try this out and let you all know how I like it.

    Here's the review:

    "Thanks for the link Katharine but after trying this recipe I'm never ripening another pumpkin ever again! OMG - this recipe is FANTASTIC! Now I'm sorry I don't have more green ones!

    This is one of those dishes you get hooked on! Very New Orleans tasting - almost like a super rich, garlicky, artichoke/shrimp/crab gratin. I could see myself sitting in a Louisiana restaurant trying to figure out the 'secret ingredient'. The green pumpkin is very, very subtle.

    Since I had to dig up potatoes this morning & didn't have time to hover over the stove I decided to steam the peeled pumpkins instead (which btw peel as easy as an apple when they're green). I set the timer & came back in 45 minutes. I let the pumpkin cool a bit and instead of squeezing the juice off through a colander I wrung it out in a dish towel instead - which seriously cuts down on the simmer time required in the second step. The rest of the recipe I followed exactly - what a treat!

    Thank you to Emeril's Ma Ma! YUM YUM!

    Michelle."

    Here is a link that might be useful: Green Pumpkin, shrimp, and crab casserole

  • Sharon Mizell
    4 years ago

    I have about 30 volunteer plants of what I thought was squash that washed down the hill from our chicken run. Tons of male flowers, lots of female flowers. I have fertilized them and taken care of them just as if I had planted them. Because they were very dense, I have cut back some of the foliage to let in the sunlight.

    Yesterday, I found several nice fist-sized squash, so I picked them and brought them into the house. I googled pics of small, round squash but could find nothing that looked like the ones I had picked. I was trying to find out when they should be picked - what they looked like, etc.

    Suddenly, it dawned on me that these were probably not squash (we feed our chickens leftovers and unsellable veggies & fruits from a local produce stand where I work on occasion), as I couldn't remember any time that we had fed the girls any small, round squash. However, we had fed them several PUMPKINS last fall!

    I quickly looked up pics of immature pumpkin and THERE THEY WERE! I felt badly that I had picked 2 of them so early, so looked it up to see if you could eat unripe pumpkin. YES! That young, you can prepare them like regular squash, which I decided to do so as not to waste them. THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! I sliced them about 1/4" and sautéed them in coconut oil with just a bit of Himalayan pink salt and some freshly ground black pepper. That's all I did. I just couldn't believe they were so delicious!!! So for dinner, guess what I'm having . . .

    So all those plants up on the hill, I'm using for the huge yellow flowers and the small unripe pumpkin for a side dish. I had transplanted 4 of the seedlings earlier to a nice plot in my organic garden - so those I will let grow to maturity. I really don't need 30 plantings of ripe pumpkin!

    What a tasty surprise! You might want to try it . . . just cook them like you would in your favorite squash recipe.

  • Sharon Mizell
    4 years ago

    Thanks, Okiedawn!


  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    4 years ago

    I'm glad you found this thread and that it worked out for you, Sharon!

  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    4 years ago

    Let me add, I cooked a young acorn squash (vine destroyed by a vine borer) and my husband didn't get any, I ate it all. It was so good!

  • Macmex
    4 years ago

    Indeed. I would take an immature acorn squash over a zucchini any day!

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    4 years ago

    This is so good to know! I'm excited!


  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    4 years ago

    Amy, That is good to know, and I hope Ron didn't mind too much. lol. George, I feel the same way about zucchini! It is not my favorite of all the many kinds of squash available, especially if I miss harvesting one and it turns into a huge monster. I feed those to the chickens.

    Dawn

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