I planted seeds from a pumpkin I knew would probably result in a hybrid or not true to seed plant. It doesn’t look like the original. I plan on cutting this one open and tasting it, I’ve never had a squash that tasted “bitter” I know it should if it’s inedible but can anyone give me any further info or explanation of what I need to look for so I know if it’s inedible or not lol? Or advice if anyone else has run into an inedible pumpkin/squash?
by Hey-im-kpuff
5 Comments
Are you sure it’s ripe?
Regardless, let it cure for 2 weeks to a month first, it might change color if it wasn’t ripe (or just rot if it truly was nowhere close to being ripe).
You can try to bite into it when you cut it open and see if there’s any bitterness. If not, then it’s most likely edible.
Also even inedible hybrids might be edible unripe (sort of like a zucchini). But they need to be harvested max 7-10 days after pollination.
You will absolutely know if a squash isn’t safe to eat. Cucurbitacin isn’t a subtle flavor when concentrated in unsafe quantities, and you’ll want to immediately spit it out. I agree with the other comments that this doesn’t look quite ripe, so I’d let it shelf-cure for a good month — this isn’t about safety, but rather about letting the starches break down to sugars, which will make a safe squash actually turn enjoyable to eat.
This pumpkin is incredible
You can eat underripe pumpkins like summer squash; you just need to scrape all the seeds and guts out and might need to peel it (or might not if the skin is not overly tough.) It will be a lot firmer than zucchini and a little sweeter, and green or light orange instead of white. I made some hash yesterday with hamburger meat, onions, peppers, a grated small green pumpkin, and brown rice instead of potatoes. Seasoned with beef bouillon, garlic, black pepper (lots of pepper), and basil.
Taste a little piece before you goto all that trouble to make sure it’s not bitter.
One year we tossed our decorative pumpkins, delicata squash, acorn squash, spaghetti squash and pie pumpkins in the compost pile. The next year we had hybrids of all of them spontaneously growing. Some were edible and others weren’t but it was a cool little experiment.