How did I not know about Sweet Dumpling squash before this year? It is the little guy next to the pumpkin in the photo above.
I bought the seed this year mostly because my FB acquaintance, Regina Schrambling, called it “the avocado of squash” in the FedCo seed catalogue. One should always listen to a Regina Schrambling recommendation. So even though I wasn’t sure what this meant, I thought it was worth a try.
My squash patch was a disaster, but I did get this one lovely fruit. And perhaps the vine, knowing things were not going well, put extra energy into making this fruit the best it could be.
I’m not a huge fan of squash, which I think is the porridge of vegetables: nourishing, filling mash that is better with maple syrup or lots of butter and salt.
So two weeks ago I wasn’t feeling very optimistic as I halved a pale acorn squash from the farmer’s market and this sweet dumpling, slicked on some oil, dusted them with cumin, and put them in the oven to roast.
Wow. Flavor explosion. Very sweet– in the real sense, not like they’re just saying it to be nice. Steve’s immediate reaction was that it would make great pie. That kind of sweet. And you can eat the skin, so easy peasy.
Such was my pessimism that I didn’t even take a photo of the roasted beauty. It was eaten before I knew what we had on our hands. Let’s just say the acorn squash could not compete.
Let’s just say it will be in heavy rotation from now on. As gardeners (and Cubs fans) are want to say: wait until next year!