Seminole Pumpkins

Every year it is nice to try a new vegetable (or variety of vegetable) or two. This year one of the ones we tried out over at Fields of Plenty was a Seminole Winter Squash. There were a few things that attracted me to trying this out. One is that it has a very long storage time. Another is that it is one of the vegetables featured by the Slow Food Ark of Taste. It's also resistant to vine borers (one of my most hated farm pests).So how'd it turn out? Well it produced a lot of fruits, no squash borer problems that I could see. It's a little hard to know about it's "stores nearly forever" claim, though so far they are storing perfectly.  And it's taste? Well two days before we send it out in the Thanksgiving shares I figured I ought to test it out. If you're getting a Thanksgiving share, here's a little about what to expect.In the description in the seed catalog it said you may have to use a hatchet to split these squash (like a coconut). The two I opened were not that hard, a sharp knife was sufficient.On first look the flesh looked nice and dense, typical of a good roasting pumpkin. In the second fruit I opened the seeds looked large and nice enough to roast (I didn't this time because of time constraints, but you might consider it).I roasted them for about 45 minutes and that was more than enough time for them to soften up. The two I cooked were my two smallest, so yours might need a bit more time.Again these were the smallest squashes and yielded a little less than 2 cups of cooked pulp per fruit, I expect the ones you are getting in your Thanksgiving share will yield closer to 3 cups, enough for a pumpkin pie or you can try Seminole Pumpkin Fry Bread, which is apparently the way most Seminole people and other Floridians eat it today.While the taste is lovely and earthy (not very sweet)- after cooking these first two I'm not sure I'll grow it again next year. I will be using some of this for a pumpkin pie I'm making this weekend, and will report back afterward. If you have any thoughts pro or con, let me know!