.png)
News to Me: Giant Pink Banana Squash is an Actual Thing
- Bob Benenson
- Oct 8
- 3 min read
Guess I Don't Know All The Produce Yet
I have been buying produce from farmer Tracey Vowell at Three Sisters Garden (Kankakee, Illinois), first at Green City Market and, since 2020, by ecommerce and home delivery. Tracey is probably best known for her sweet corn, but part of the fun of shopping with her is that she sometimes has stuff you pretty much can't find elsewhere.
For instance, you can buy watermelon from a lot of farms. But Tracey sold me a 32-pounder this summer.
Lots of farms can sell you winter squash — but it was just the other day that I discovered on Three Sisters Garden's website that there is something called pink banana squash (it's that exotic-looking piece in the photo above).
With all my years of haunting farmers markets and touting local food, this is the first time I've seen (or bought) a pink banana squash. Believe it or not, this one, which weighed in at about seven pounds, is classified as a medium. Large banana squash are no less than 10 pounds; extra large is 15+ pounds.
Here's how the folks at Specialty Produce of San Diego, my go-to for produce details, describe banana squash:
Applications
Banana squashes are best suited for cooked applications such as steaming, roasting, baking, grilling, and frying. As a true winter squash, it can be used in place of other orange-flesh winter squash varieties such as butternut and kabocha. Banana squashes are commonly sliced into rings or cubes, roasted, and added to soups, chili, and stews. They can also be served as a stand-alone side dish or shaved thinly and added as a pizza topping and to fresh green salads. Banana squash pairs well with butter, creme fraiche, aged sheep's cheeses, cream, pork belly, lamb, truffles, apricot preserves, orange juice, and herbs such as thyme, bay, sage, rosemary, cumin, curry, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. They will keep for a couple of months when stored in a cool place with relative humidity.
Geography/History
Squashes of Cucurbita maxima can trace their origins back to South America, especially to ancient sites in Peru, and the family of Banana squashes was introduced into the United States by R.H. Shumway in 1893. Though the Shumway seed catalog would be the initial Banana squash orientation within the U.S., other seed catalogs would soon follow, and by the early twentieth century, the Banana squash became a popular winter squash variety. Today most Banana squash variety seeds are housed among heirloom seed savers and are rarely found in the commercial marketplace. If available, Banana squashes can be found at specialty grocers and farmers markets in the United States and select regions of Central and South America.
I'll share some cooking ideas for banana squash if they pan out.
As for the other winter squash in the photo, the colorful Carnival squash on the right is quite readily available. But the Autumn Frost squash on the left is a pretty rare breed. I got at least a couple of these from Tracey last year and they are superb.
I also paid a visit to Green City Market's Wednesday session. Until recently, the stand of Nichols Farm & Orchard had sweet corn piled high. As you can see in the photo, the end of its season is near at hand.
This is prime time for fans of all fruit. Ellis Family Farms (Benton Harbor, Michigan) had the first cranberries I've seen this year, along with grapes, pears and more.
My market haul: Sweet potatoes, Empire apples, red bell peppers and zucchini from Nichols; tomatoes from Ellis; Concord grapes from Mick Klug Farm (St. Joseph, Michigan); and indulgent caramel apple baked doughnuts from Daly's Donuts (Chicago).
No exotic squash, though. Already had one.
Comments