another blog post i did for my seedsaving buddies
The cold wet spring we had did no favours to my pumpkin growing attempts, for the third year in a row i was bitterly disappointed as my seedlings faded, dwindled and died.
I have discovered that the worm farm is the place to germinate curcubits, i tipped all the old seed i had in there and whatever germinated in the warm moist conditions i transferred out into the wild when they sprouted. The survivors turned out to be the kumi kumi and chilacayote, they seem to be tough! Both take a while to get going but when they do they want to take over the world, with long hearty vines. The chila are incorrigible, eventually scaling everything in sight, i have them dangling from the fruit trees and scrambling over the chicken coop. There are rumours that they can produce up to 50 per plant! By mid summer enough have set to leave for storage so i start plucking the numerous small ones and they can be substituted for zucchini in any recipe. Just as well because my zucchini plants were also pathetic and my family likes sweet zucchini pickles which i make every year.
Once fully formed the thin shells go very hard and they store for ages. I have a three year old one as a door stop. everyone asks if it is a watermelon, but no these are white inside like pie melon, but these have black seeds, and when they cook they separate into shreds as spaghetti squash do, resembling vermicelli noodles, they retain a certain crispness when cooked. Cucurbita ficifolia are known the world over by many different names, including shark-fin melon, fig-leaf gourd, angels hair pumpkin, Malabar gourd, black seed squash, and cidra, our strain obviously has the Mexican title. The flowers, leaves and tender shoots are used in Mexico and other countries as greens. The mature fruits can be used in both sweet and savory dishes, Jams, chutneys, sweets, tart fillings, soups,curries etc.
googling provides endless recipes, Angel hair jam,(Spanish origin, used as a filling in empanadas), palanqueta ( a peanut brittle including the protein-rich seeds) Petha, (an Indian sweet), Waatlemoen konfyt (candied ginger flavoured preserve from south africa) piemelon and ginger jam, shark-fin melon soup (asian soup with pork bones for flavour, although you can make vegetarian options)i used it to make digby Law's Ritz chutney. They
also make excellent pig fodder.
Well worth the try you can always trim them after the first fruits set if you dont have the room for them to roam,
@ethelperry photography took over for a time, i havent had the energy for gardening that i had before really since my son died, the soil really needs some tlc after all the rain we have and the veges havent been growing as well as they used to , but luckily these things take care of themselves :)
Wow that is so interesting ... reminds me of when we planted pumpkins at school one summer .... we came back after the long summer vacation and they had totally taken over the playground ... photography is a beautiful outlet .... and I so enjoy your images ... you always seem to have a different way of capturing an image ... lovely in green by the way :) fav
