I had the same thing happen from a Burpee Heirloom pack, and someone who grew fields of Delicata told me that there are always a few plants that put out these round ones. Because of the overall similarity to Delicata in these cases (size, color, stripes) I would not be surprised if there is something other than hybrid seed going on... possibly a gene (fruit elongation) that gets turned off easily. But if the size, color, and stripes genes are dominant and the elongate shape is recessive my hypothesis could very well be wrong. My oddball was different in some other ways too. It was disease resistant and HUGE.

No. Delicata flesh is sweet but not very dry. However if you bake slow and long you can create a dryer flesh with any squash.

Hi folks, I am trying delicata squash for the first time this year and I'm confused about when to pic them. I have three similar to the picture. What do you think?

While I suppose it's possible the parent plant was grown near other types of squash, I understand delicata in all cases is not a hybridized plant. Also, if it's possible for a cross pollinated flower to produce viable seed different than the mother plant (natural hybrid), it's news to me. I'll check into that idea. I also plan on saving seed from this plant and try it again next year with some separation from the others to see what happens. In the first photo, it's 6" x 3". The second is a couple feet away and measures 8" x 6.5". Notably it's not the size so much as it appears swollen and smooth, like a melon. An no, I have no melons this year. And my original seed was from grocery store produce.