Comments on: Celebrating Squash

By: leslie

leslie — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:38:10 +0000

wow, miriam,

115 degrees! I’m happy to confess that’s not a problem I have much experience with (though I am surprised it could cause rot).
The good part of a climate like yours is it gives you a chance ( I’m jealous!) to grow the Southwestern heirlooms offered by Native Seeds/SEARCH -
http://nativeseeds.org. As part of their conservation mission they offer all kinds of wonderful things we Northeasterners could never grow, and they also list 5 varieties of Cucurbita maxima, the species to which Marina belongs. You might well have better luck with one of them.

By: miriam

miriam — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:25:23 +0000

thanks for this valuable info—-i will let the other marina that i harvested rest for a few days. several got so big and started to rot.
the two i picked could be dented slightly with my fingernail—i was afraid to let them stay any longer. the desert heat 115 is a killer.

thanks again

By: leslie

leslie — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:39:31 +0000

Hi Miriam

The basic recipe is at the end of the post, under “To Prepare Squash for a Tasting.”

As noted, fully ripe Marina di Chiogga takes a long time to cook. That’s because it’s very dense fleshed - when it’s fully ripe, which also takes a long time ( be sure the skin cannot be dented with a thumbnail before you harvest). Other than that, you can use your bounty of Marinas in any recipe you like that calls for winter squash.
And you don’t have to use them up quickly; Marina di Chioggia is a good keeper and in fact will be tastier after about 2 weeks than it is fresh off the vine.

By: miriam

miriam — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:41:19 +0000

> hi leslie—i came across your blog while looking for a recipe for
marina
> di
> chioggia squash. i live in southern california and the squash have
> gone
crazy—big and the leaves are still producing. i was wondering if you have
> a recipe for me—couldn’t find one on the web.
>
> thanks,
> miriam