Monday 22 October 2012

Orange Squash..

Yesterday's Marché Fermier Marché Gourmet at Chaveignes included an exhibition of squashes grown locally. The colours were wonderful and the shapes intruiging..
 

There were a number of displays but this arrangement, by three children from the school in Champigny sur Veude, showed lots of imagination...

As if we weren't all 'squashed' out, we went from here up to the Chateau du Rivau, where again the squashes were out in force...

Full marks to this one for its size..

And these for the most unusual shape and texture..

This display showed the different varieties labelled...

So, two minutes to commit to memory then we'll start testing.... Your time starts now!
ps. This also tests your eyesight!

5 comments:

Tim said...

I can't read the labels on my screen... but [in English]...
Top row [L>R] Rouge Vif, A 'something', Turks Turban, A water melon, A 'something'....

Middle row [R>L] Pink Jumbo Banana, Crown Prince, A stripey Crookneck, Two Pattypans - one orange, one white, Artisan's Backside, know, but can't remember the curved green one hidden at the back...

Bottom row [L>R] Unripe Crown Prince, Orange Crookneck, out of place Starfruit [don't know this one... probably inedibbubble], Spaghetti Squash, Little Dumpling and Jack-be-Little [the Halloween carver's favourite]...

That huge one looks like Atlantic Giant or a close relative...
We've visited Chavvies Marché three times... always like the squash exhibition in the courtyard... the foods good too!
One year there was a beer stall, he was there the following year.... then we never saw him again! Anoying really as he had some very good French beers, including a couple of stouts and one especially designed to go with cheese...

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Oh Tim! You star!!.......

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Seriously though, Tim, you're a walking encyclopaedia of squash!!

They were hard to read and as there were three rows of squash and only two of labels there was some guess work involved on my part.

The best I can do is to say that these are the labels, as I read them...

Top row (l-r)
Coloquinte "Poire Bicolore"; Courge "Cream of the Crop"; "Turban Turq"; Courge de Siam (which is next to the end) and Courge Patidou "Sweet Dumpling" which is the end one.

Lower row (l-r)
Courge "Musquee Provence"; Patisson "Sunburst"; "Yugoslavian Finger" (which looks like a starfish); "Butternut"; and finally "Pink Jumbo Banana".

So really it's a case of matching the two rows of labels to the three rows of squash!

Tim said...

The stripey crooknecked one is probably ... there is most definately no Butternut on the display... nor is there "Poire Bicolore" which is the yellow and green one that is almost at the front of the third picture. Sweet Dumpling and Little Dumpling are the same and is a variety of Acorn Squash... I would say that it is 'Little Dumpling' as the green stripes are quite large... it is one that has two names [because like the Potimarron there are two slightly different variations]... the one on the display is unripe... the dark green stripes turn orange when ripe. The Patissons are the Pattypans... the Courge de Siam [Cucurbita ficifolia melenosperma] looks very interesting... use the latin name and click on the Wikipedia entry... it is both veg and fruit depending on the ripeness... the seeds are also eaten rather like peanut brittle. Note to Pauline... can we try this next year?

Musquee (de) Provence is the one I called an unripe Crown Prince... it will go a deep orangey-brown as it ripens... it is the one that you find the wedges of in the supermarchés... very tasty.

We grew Butternut and Crown Prince this year... but grew a yellow Crookneck [like the orange one] and it is eaten young... about half the size of the one on display... and can be treated like a courgette... but with a denser, almost creamy flesh.

Pauline and I like squashes... they are given as much space as the spuds here and are part of our staple veg supply... we finished the last of the 2011 Crown Princes at the beginning of this month... they keep very well.

The flowers, and the young lead shoots can also be eaten. With something like Crown Prince which branches everywhichway and gives a lot of male flowers, it is a late summer treat [once the two or three fruit per plant have grown large enough, you can start harvesting the lead shoots... the flowers can be harvested at anytime you have two or three fruits set.]

Tim said...

The first bit looks wierd because I looked up "Poire Bicolore"... and cut and pasted it to the bit after the Butternut on the next line... sorry... I meant to add that it is probably a Cushaw squash [Cucurbita mixta or C. argyrosperma]... again eaten like a courgette.