In article ,
Janet Galpin wrote:

Please could you say a bit more about how the hubbard varieties compare
with butternut in terms of taste, time taken to mature and keeping
qualities. I'm just trying to get to grips with the range of different
types available.

I forgot to cover the time to mature and keeping qualities. The
former seems to be slightly longer for C. maxima than for C. pepo,
and fully ripe ones keep indefinitely - but that seems to be true
of the less watery C. pepo, too. The problem is getting them
fully ripe, but they can be ripened on a sunny windowsill if they
are at least mostly ripe when picked.

I find that ripe Little Gem will keep well into the new year, and
ripe hubbards towards Easter. I suspect that the reason it isn't
true of pumpkins is partly because they are bred for volume, and
a smaller, less watery variety would keep better. But C. maxima
probably will keep better than C. pepo, anyway.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.