Interesting. I picked one of about 8 articles that said Leggett developed butternut squash in 1944.
Fwiw, Wikipedia kinda agrees both that it’s a hybrid and also that it’s moschata.
Also, it seems that all the squashes interbreed.
Seed savers is usually reliable, though.
That article said that he specifically developed Waltham. Maybe he developed some other strain.
It seems pretty unlikely that he did so by crossing a crookneck pepo with a maxima and somehow winding up with a moschata, though. Or that he developed butternut squash in general; Fedco says that was introduced in 1936 by Joseph Breck and Sons of Boston “out of Canada Crookneck, an 1800’s variety.” – that probably wasn’t the pepo crooknecks I got when I looked up gooseneck squash, though. Hudson Valley Seeds says they carry Canada Crookneck, and they say it is moschata, and it sure has a butternut look to it except for the neck shape:
Maybe some people also call those gooseneck, and we can leave the pepos out of it. In which case, my guess is that Leggett invented some other strain of butternut squash, not Waltham; and he either bred it out of other butternuts, or bred it out of Canada Crookneck or something similar; possibly thinking he’d crossed it with a maxima, and not realizing that the cross didn’t take and that what he actually had was a straight-necked mutation of the Canada Crookneck, or a cross with some other moschata.
ETA: Some modern strains of butternut are hybrids, in the modern sense of seed from the F1 generation that may not come true to type in the next generation. Waltham is open pollinated, though, as are some other strains.
The amount of kale is varied to taste. I’ve had highly kaley versions, and other where it was nearly kaleless. It’s very similar to Tuscan Potato and Spinach soup. Apparently the sausage and potato neutralize the evil essence of kale.
I hate kale. But a little bit in a soup would probably be fine. Still, if i WANT greens in a soup, i use chard. Chard tastes good, unlike kale.
Well, yeah. But if you’re making Portuguese Kale soup people kind of expect it to have some kale in it. But no law I ever heard of says you can’t make Portuguese Chard soup if feel like it.
Literally only kale from that list and that is less than a burning hatred than it is a mild distaste (mostly for that tough, chewy texture). I’ll tolerate kale side dishes enough to give them a decent shot. There are a few others that weren’t listed that fall into that same general ‘mild distaste’ basket. Things like some of the more bitter greens, like collared or mustard, that I don’t love but will still eat.
But really I don’t have any serious vegetable aversions.
My food aversions tend to run to things like certain strong fermented/decomposed flavors. I rather dislike many of the really funky washed-rind cheeses for example. And it will be a cold day in hell before I eat balut. But fresh vegetables generally are almost never an issue.
Balut aren’t fermented. Maybe you’re thinking of century (100 year) eggs. Those can be kind of smelly.
‘Russian’ kale in borshch - oh, my! That’s lovely!
I voted beetroot. I don’t hate it but I avoid it unless I’m feeling adventurous because much too often it tastes like mud. But sometimes it doesn’t, which is why I give it a try from time to time.
I like most vegetables, but have always had a strong dislike of tomatoes, mushrooms, and olives.
A coworker brought in a dish with okra in it. She picked it from her garden. I thought it was delicious.
I put celery, because I don’t like it in anything where I can taste it. As part of a mirepoix I can stand it, although I prefer a good soffritto nowadays anyway.
Any other veg, I’m good with.
I’ve tried it. Balut tastes like you’d expect, eggy & bland steamed blood/meat, not good but not revolting. The texture can go right back to hell: bones, feathers, slime, yolk. I had a difficult time choking down a couple token bites.
Good call. I added that as well; it’s fine in a stew where it has softened and lost it’s flavor, but I can’t stand the taste of celery. Bitter and inedible.
At risk of hijacking, I grow courgettes, cucumbers, butternut squash and pumpkins (all cucurbits) together on my allotment and several times the squash or pumpkin plants have produced unidentifiable fruits. I have never tried to eat one - perhaps I should.
j
Go ahead and try them. If they taste good, they ought to be OK. If they taste bad in any way, don’t eat more than the bite it took you to figure that out.
In particular, cucurbits in general can produce a compound called cucurbitacin, which is very bitter, and eating very much of which can cause significant digestive problems; but a bite or two is unlikely to hurt you, and if the particular cross you’re trying to eat has a high level of it one bite is all you’re likely to want to take.
I selected eggplant (so gross) and horseradish. I had no idea horseradish is a vegetable, but I know that I don’t even want to be in the same room as horseradish sauce.
My Mother used to, all sorts of “greens” especially turnip greens. Boiled to death, of course. (As a child of the Depression and a farm, you eat everything and waste nothing, but also boil it to death).
I won’t eat it all by itself- ecchh- but in a gumbo- yum!
Yep. Again not a fan of it all by itself, but in a mixed green salad, it is okay, and in a good soup it’s fine.
The cucurbit/squash discussion is interesting. (I had no idea there could possibly be any risk associated with eating random cross-breeds).
I’m growing kabocha and have about three squash that will soon be ready to pick (that is A LOT of squash - not sure what I’ll do with them all, especially as more will be ripening).
Kabocha is somewhat different from other winter squashes; the taste and texture are often likened to sweet potato. Very delicious in any case. Any squash haters reading this who have never had kabocha might want to give it a nibble if you ever get a chance.
Yop, it’s the root of one of our Brassica friends. You grate it like ginger.
and flee the area, onions have nothing on the face melting ability of the horseradish. it’s like raiders of the lost ark.
