Wednesday, November 3, 2010

It's a pepper! It's a watermelon! It's an... apple gourd?

Huh? An apple gourd?



We found the hybrid-looking vegetable happily growing in among it's pumpkin relatives at the pumpkin patch yesterday. Apparently, everyone who's anyone has been looking for these apple squashes all over the patch. The  cashier thought they'd all been picked and sold, but we somehow managed to find one quite by accident.

Seriously, though. Isn't it crazy-looking? It's the shape of a green pepper. But it's got the coloring of a watermelon. And it smells like a squash.

I joined cyber hands with Google and learned that apple gourds are not edible. (Some people eat very young gourd seeds, but the seeds turn bitter as they age.)  Hhmmm... Good to know. They do make excellent crafts and birdhouses, though. Huh. Not sure I care enough to attempt anything with it, especially after said cashier told me how to dry and preserve it. It involved mold. Ew.

Thanks very much, but no. I try to avoid mold.

So what to do with this apple gourd... Think I can eBay it?

4 comments:

Francine said...

Hey girl! going through emails, had one from you and clicked on to see how you are doing!
Hope all is going well in sunny SoCal! We are getting settled--slowly but surely.
Love your hybrid find here in the apple gourd!--very cool!
chat soon!

Denise Z. said...

Very interesting. I won't be telling my daughter about this. Last year she wouldn't toss her gourd until it was moldy beyond belief. She just loves them!

Unknown said...

Very unusual and cool! Every year, there seem to be new gourds available.

Country Wife said...

I have a whole basket of those in my garage. Waiting for them to dry so I can do something with them.