all great info, thank you both of you. It would be good to have pigs/rabbits/chickens Elisa, they will never say no. Well, almost never.

Trombocino is an excellent keeper with great flavor -- from what I understand it actually morphs from summer squash into winter squash as it is left to mature (this is the characteristic that made me want to grow it since I always leave for the month of August.) I have definitely had it keep well into spring with no loss of flavor -- and without doing any bleach washing, just kept in a dry semi-cool place. Glad you're enjoying yours! We're making trombocino-shallot-feta frittata tonight :)

I thought the original question was if mature summer squash stored and tasted good? Ah -- found it, it was your secondary thread after the trombocino one.

I do have some huge costata romanesco and some others to test in December -- the costata normally taste great even huge during the summer, so I'm curious as to what the flavor of these will be.

Yes, my general question was how well Moschata works as a "keeper". Certainly Butternut is great. I just ate the last of my 2014 stock a few weeks ago. No question that Butternut has more flavor, but Tromboncino has, well, bulk! A week ago we did Courgette Fritters with mature Tromboncino. Marvelous. Think potato pancakes with squash instead of potato. The result of my inquiry a few months ago was somewhat mixed. Most people said that, at best, Tromboncino's would last a month. But maybe theirs were picked before they really matured. They're looking like real winter squash to me.

Oooh. Courgette fritters -- thanks for a new trombocino idea! Do you have to cook it a bit first, or just throw it in raw like you do with courgettes?

Yes, it doesn't make sense that their Trombocino only lasted a month, unless, as you say, they were not totally tan. Or sometimes people store winter squash in a basement or garage and the humidity gets them.

You are far enough south to grow Seminole. Also Moschata, it is super sweet and stores so well it would work in a time capsule. Doesn't really work in zone 5, but I have snuck a few into a zone 6 garden in Maryland and they were, as a friend I served them to said, "stupid sweet." Fedco has the seeds.

For courgette fritters, you peel the squash and then shred it. No precooking required. But I like your idea. I just pulled a 2+ foot beast off the vine, and I'll probably use a piece of it in a frittata tonight. I have a bunch of others on the vine, almost all mostly tan, but the temps will be dipping into the mid-30s, so I need to be ready to "rescue" the rest, and put them in storage.

Seminole, eh? Sounds terrific. Thanks for the pointer, Elisa! I've gotten tired of fighting the SVBs, so although Moschata aren't totally immune to those, they survive a lot better. I'll put in Seminoles next year. It appears that Seminoles are shaped more like small pumpkins and are super sweet. I understand that these were actually native to the Everglades. But what prevents them from being grown further north? Do they just not like cooler temps?

Thx Elisa! I'm looking forward to your testing of the Costata Romanescos. As I reported in Dan's 2 earlier threads, I ate mine a few weeks after harvest and they weren't bad at all. As we all know, since they are heirlooms, growing them out is the way to save seeds. Definitely worth eating when grown out.

I'm now dipping into my banana squash pile (N. Georgia Candy Roasters,) and although the early-eaten Costatas were fine, there is no comparison. The banana squash are, of course, much better. I do wonder if longer storage will help the Costatas to dry out a bit and sweeten up.

For me, the comparison between saved summer squash and winter varieties is a mistake. The winter squashes are always going to be better. What I was happy about was that the seed-laden Costatas were indeed edible, as well as tasty enough to make cooking worthwhile. I will definitely be cooking them again. Quite a number of people said they weren't at all edible. I was so discouraged by their comments that I had to cook them and taste for myself. Although I liked the short-term-saved Costatas (and am eagerly waiting for Elisa's Dec. report,) when it comes to such versatility, it does sound like the Tromboncino's might be in a class by themselves.

Dan, I think I remember Fedco saying that the issue with Seminoles in colder areas may be length of time to mature. But I grew some in zone 5 west va the same year I grew them in MD and the WV ones were hardly sweet at all, and I decided not worth growing there again. I had given up on growing them in MD because the neighbor planted trees that shaded the garden area. Just got to the the MD house tonight and lo and behold, the neighbor cut down all his trees! Time to order Seminole seeds again :)

rgreen I thoroughly enjoyed your cooking of costata report, with photos :) I am interested in seeing what the aging process will have done to mine. And I agree, it sounds like Trombocino may be in a class by itself. In the mean time, I'm having fun with the experimentation. Got the white lab coat and everything.

Yes, now that I look at it, the time-to-maturity for Seminole is a few weeks longer than for most squashes. Also, I see that the Seminole shell is rock hard (evidently hard to cut with a knife), which may partly explain the maturation time, and may also partly explain why they keep so well.

Of course, the Tromboncinos aren't quite in a class by themselves, because the issue here is whether they keep as well as Butternuts. Both are Moschatas, and both can be eater immature. The question was whether Tromboncinos could have the same keeping potential as Butternuts which, for me, is easily a year.

Dan, have you tasted early-harvested butternuts? I haven't done so, but now I'm wondering how they compare to the tromboncinos.

Lab coats for everyone! .... Well, or straight jackets --- depends on your perspective ("Crazy nutters!") :-P

Um, actually I haven't tasted immature butternuts, but I thought I heard they were OK. Surely people have them at the end of a season? Somehow, all of mine have been done at first frost.

Mature zucchini (without yellowing), will last and taste okay so long as it doesn't dry out inside. Once that happens, it is nearly inedible. You also pushed it way too long as well; 1-2 months at the absolute max.

I think that's the difference. Summer squash, or immature winter squash, hasn't developed the rind to prevent it from drying out. I mean, you can bend a zuke. The rind is thin. Mature winter squash has that thick, or at least impermeable rind. That being said, the keeping potential of winter squashes varies, maybe because of the rind thickness. From what I've heard, Seminole rind is VERY hard. Hard to cut with a knife. That's consistent with the fact that they can keep for a very long time.

Johnny's has a squash knife that I bought for Seminoles -- work great and well worth the purchase.

In my experience, Trombocino does not store nearly as long as butternut. 1 year for butternut, about 4 - 5 months for Trombocino. I've tasted immature butternut (the ones that are still green when frost threatened) and they are about as insipid as immature Trombocino (I don't actually like the Trombos until they are mature.)

Ha! Lab coats for all! AJ those were the parameters for the experiment -- wait until Nov or December and see if the accepted wisdom holds true.

"The question was whether Tromboncinos could have the same keeping potential as Butternuts which, for me, is easily a year."

My tromboncinos, which I saved largely for seed last season, lasted until July this year, though I didn't eat any after spring veggies started coming in so I can't testify as to late winter flavor. I saved a bunch this year after reading the previous discussion, and they are resting just fine, though I've only eaten one. The flavor seems milder than most storage squash which is a good thing in my house since it means I can sneak some into dishes I share with DH who isn't fond of squash. So I make some dishes where the squash is the feature for me and then sneak some shredded into other dishes we share to increase the nutrient content.

Did you do anything special to keep the Tromboncinos for a year? Temperature? Sterilization? As I've said, I can keep Butternut for a full year even with a summer in a pretty warm house, after sterilization with bleach. It would be marvelous if there were a way to keep other Moschatas the same way.

continued reporting: tested the very big zephyr and Lebanese squash in early-mid December.

storage: perfect, no soft spots.

flavor: a little better than "worse than mediocre" which is what the jackpot was. Maybe I'd call it just mediocre. I tried adding it to a recipe to boost the flavor, but in the end decided it wasn't worth the waste of good ingredients (onions, apples, maple syrup) on crummy squash. Only the dog liked it.

Into the compost.

I still have costata romanesco to test, and will do so in January.

My several month old Tromboncinos are storing perfectly, and the taste is fine. Of course, Tromboncinos have little taste anyway, so that's not going to be a discriminator. Now, if they start tasting BAD, then that's an alarm bell. I mean, most summer squash (I'm thinking Zukes in particular) are almost tasteless. Some would diplomatically call their flavor "mild", and I wouldn't call that lack of taste mediocre.

I didn't do anything special to store my tromboncinos, not even bleaching them since I hadn't really considered eating them originally and didn't know that bleaching was recommended. Mine are stored at something like 60-65 degrees, and so far this year's seem to be storing well.

Has anyone tried storing them cold? I considered putting mine in the cold cellar which I think is typically between 35 and 50 for much of the winter, but since last year's storage at cool house temperatures worked fine, I decided to go ahead and repeat that.

NHBabs, Dry seems to be more important than cold for winter squash (which is what mature Trombocino is) so I'd say skip the cellar and keep doing what you've been doing.

On the taste end of things, just to be clear -- the taste of these summer squash during the summer was excellent -- very sweet and flavorful. As mature squash is when they got mediocre.

Just re-reading a bit I see that my testing so far has been a bit OT, since the original question was about how mature moschata taste, and so far I've only tried my mature squash that are not moschata. Don't pull my research funding quite yet -- my huge costata romanesco await. Report in January.

This year's Noble prize (not Nobel silly, we're not millionaires) in the category Squashery - for her meritorious acts of bravery in the face of such overwhelming potential ickiness, and her fortitude to see it through to the very last cucurbit - that the entire human race may benefit from her research in the field of gastronomical exploration; Goes to [drum roll please] .... elisa underscore zee five!!!

The society would like to also thank elisa for demonstrating the time-honored custom known to hungry persons everywhere... that generous applications of butter and brown sugar (perhaps a pecan or 2) can make even a dish sponge taste quite good!

We would also like to offer special thanks to her lovely family dog (who, it would seem, also enjoys butter and brown sugar.)

We are all awaiting with bated breath and hopeful anticipation the results from that demonstrable paisan of the summer squash family... costata romanesco!

Keep up the good work Ms. z5, keep up the good work!

Overwhelming potential ickiness? Dish sponges? I'm eating 3 month old mature tromboncino, and the taste is fine. At least as fine as when they were summer squashes. Elisa's research might explain what she means by "mediocre" taste. Depending on the definition of that word, our research may be presenting conflicting results. To be perfectly honest, my tromboncino, as summer squash, were never "sweet".

My original question, that provoked this thread, was whether tromboncino could be matured as long-lasting winter squash. The answer is clearly yes. As to whether they taste OK, or disgusting when they are, I think the test tubes are still clinking.

I would never call the taste of my mature tromboncino disgusting, just mildly squashy.

That should be taken as a compliment, to call the taste of a squash "squashy". That is, if the taste of a squash were potatoey or artichokey, I'd probably dump them.

I fear that I may have forgotten to close my formatting... </playfulness>

There, that should do it. Now, back to our regularly scheduled inanity.

No apologies necessary. I think that real experimentation is a virtue, and I'm delighted that Elisa has jumped into this question with such energy and enthusiasm. There are many other gardening issues that deserve such honest research.

You can believe real experimentation, or you can believe old wives tales. Not that old wives aren't smart, but ...

You're exactly right that generous application of butter and brown sugar can fix most anything! I would add chocolate to that.

I had 3 tromboncino stored. Tried one - I like it fresh and like it as candy. Didn't try to cook that one for dinner. Will try next one) So far tronboncino is my favorite in all categories!

LOL! What fun to come in here and find such entertainment :)

And an award!! You can be sure the trophy will be proudly displayed along with my eight "West Virginia State Quack Grass Digging Championship" trophies.

For those who tuned in late, this is the thread that started all this:

zucchini as winter squash?

So I see that moschata was not originally specified -- no wonder I began the autumn with a spare bedroom full of cartoon-like over sized squash resting on plastic sheeting in case they explode!

I'm always looking for ways to extend the garden produce through the winter, so this has been fun and motivating, if not quite yet successful.

My personal opinion about Trombocino: insipid as summer squash, deliciously sweet as winter squash. Could it be that it is simply a winter squash that's a summer squash wannabe?

Sponges for dinner! (my dog likes them too)

The January report:

Costata Romanesco testing time!

Storage: Perfect. Actually, I don't think it ever would have rotted, the shell is so hard.

Taste: Much better than mediocre, actually bordering on very good.

Cutting it open was the hard part. I managed to slice up a bit of it and sauteed it. Was bland with nothing added, but a little salt and a hint of agave, and it was really good. I will try baking the rest of it (if I can fit it into my oven) because it was so hard to cut into raw. I would think it would be great in soup or mashed.

Analysis of data: I will keep mature costata romanesco as part of my winter squash arsenal. Yes I would recommend this to friends.

I took some photos, and if I can figure out how to post them I will.

Daninthedirt -- we also tested the trombocino fritters yesterday and they were very delicious!

Excellent. There are more long-storing winter squashes than we thought. My Tromboncionos are still hangin' in there on the shelf. (Though slowly being eaten.) I've got a packet of Seminole seeds in front of me, and will be setting them out in two months or so.

Anyone tried storing Tahitian Melon squash? I hear they are really delicious (kind of like butternut), and have long necks like Tromboncino. Those long necks are wonderful because they are seedless. Maybe the Costatas are similarly advantageous? Where are the seeds in those?

The seeds went all the way up the neck, though the big seeds were only in the base. I had strangely expected them to be only in the bulbous base, but of course they are all the way up the neck when the squash are immature.

I hope you like the Seminole! I just got some seeds for some sweet pumpkin from Bangaladesh -- hoping I can grow it because it is amazingly sweet.

Had a long necked butternut/Seminole cross for supper tonight, very tasty! We routinely use baby butternuts as summer squash and in casseroles, it's just as good as Tromboncino as a summer squash. Grilled with EVOO, S&P, and then topped with Parmesan or feta, can't wait for summer!

Good news indeed Elisa! Looks like I won't need to be in a hurry to cut into them next year. Tyvm. And yep, like Elisa, in the Costatas I had back in the fall, the seeds were throughout the squash. In this respect, they are very much like banana squash.

I have a 1-piece solid stainless steel knife. I'll have to keep that knife and a mallet at the ready next year.

rgreen, it worked really well to cut through it once (so it would fit on a large baking pan -- cookie sheet size) and then bake it. I did it at 350 for about one and a half hours. And then it was easy to cut and scoop out.

Also, after that slow roasting, the seeds are delicious! An extra added bonus.

Alright, research over, handing in my lab coat.

But now that I just got an iphone and figured out how to post photos, I could become really annoying with constant photo posting. Just a heads up.