Ouch! Spiny Chayote

TPP always pokes through markets and produce sections just to see what there is to see, and you know you keep finding new things.  And indeed, this spiny chayote is something new.  Chayote is quite common in Central America and in North American markets it's fairly common.  But they've always had smooth skin.  But these were covered in rather stiff spines.  Otherwise they look quite the same.  Some poking around on the interweb confirms that these are spiny chayotes (Sechium edule) filling a bin in the produce section of the largest Latino grocery in our area.  Spines are not unusual on fruits of the Cucurbit family: cucumbers have spines that are easily rubbed off, and the kiwano is sort of all spines on the outside, but this was a real surprise.  Anyone else seeing these in their markets?  Do they have a different season from smooth chayote? 

Friday Fabulous Flower - Squashes & pumpkins

The Phactors went foraging for apples and squashes, and having said something about apples, here's a Friday fabulous flower offering about flowers at the stage of seed dispersal, fruits. And in this case some of the largest fruits, squashes.  All of these are in the genus Cucurbita, in one of four species. C. pepo, C. mixta, C. moshata, and C. maxima.  Don't ask TPP to sort all these varieties into the correct species for you, it isn't easy or logical in many respects because you can't really go by color or shape or size.  At any rate fruits of all four species are shown here, the rest is left to you.  A lot of genetic diversity is represented here, and yet only 4 species!  This pile of squashes can be seen at the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, Illinois, though the end of October. No you can't have the big blue pumpkin at the bottom center; bad things will happen if you move it. You can also find seeds for most or all of these from Heritage Seeds at the same link.  They also have the best pumpkin ice cream, but you can't get it online. Our gardens are too small and too shady for squashes, so our supply of winter squash is purchased here. Bins and bins and bins of them, all labeled and sorted for their primary uses, some so big they are hard to lift.   

Rainbow of squashes

The Great Pumpkin Patch cont. Who could resist this picture? Yes, that's the Phactor admiring a rainbow of squashes, another demonstration of the genetic variety of Curcurbita. This picture is compliments of lovely friend Carol, so it wasn't available for yesterday's blog post. Enjoy!

Outa his gourd!

Mac Condill is out of his gourd, just plain nuts-crazy, in a good way, about pumpkins and squashes! A visit to this Lincolnland icon just outside the mighty metropolis of Arthur (mind the horses & buggies) would convince anyone about his condition. The Great Pumpkin Patch is a paradise of cucurbits, an ode to squashes, pumpkins, and gourds, a symphony of pepos. This fellow is an alumnus of my public institution of higher learning, and this probably figures into his deranged state of mind, but the Phactor assures you the only physical danger is having a squash dropped on your foot (the largest on display topped 900 lbs!). However once you behold the over 400 varieties of squashes and pumpkins being raised and sold as fruit or seed here it might result in your catching gourd fever. Pumpkins and squashes are all classified in just a few (3 or 4) species of Cucurbita and they are all trace their ancestry to Central America, but as they have moved around the world and interacted with people, their genetic diversity has become manifest in all these varieties. So which variety is the best for flavoring pumpkin ice cream? Believe me, Mac knows.