Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Tromboncino Squash

Every year I like to try new varieties in my garden and one of the new to me varieties this year was Tromboncino Squash. It is an Italian vining squash and should be trellised to form straight squash. This squash can grow up to 3 feet long. Tromboncino squash is trumpet shaped hence the name. This squash is a duel purpose squash, it can be harvested young and used like zucchini or harvest at full maturity and used like a winter squash. It is tender, mild, sweet and nutty when harvested as summer squash at 8–12". Delicious steamed, grilled or sliced raw in salad. Italians use it in gnocchi and to stuff ravioli. I sautéed some of my young squash along with zucchini and it was delicious. It has less water content compared to zucchini and cooks up nicely. The skin is light green and thin so no need to peel it. The other nice thing is that the seeds are all in the rounded part, so the rest of the squash is seedless. I did let one of my squash stay on the vine until full maturity and used it like butternut squash. At full maturity the skin hardens and turns tan like butternut squash.  I will be growing this variety again next year and I highly recommend it.






Last photo courtesy of Southern Exposure Seed Company

If you have the space in your garden and like summer/winter squash I would give Tromboncino a try next year.
My seed source was The Scientific Gardener
 http://scientificgardener.blogspot.com/2011/12/tromboncino-not-perfect-but-very-good.html     
  Thanks for checking out my post and happy gardening!
 

4 comments:

  1. I grew Zucchetta Tromboncino as well this year and it was my favourite squash by far - just loved it! I used it as a summer squash & even when harvested at over 16", I found that the entire squash was tender & didn't even need to remove any seeds in the "bulbous end" as they were still tiny.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It will probably always be planted in my garden from now on.

      Delete
  2. Hi, never seen such unusual squash. Do you store some seeds to plant from your own seed for the next year? I do this when I like new veggies. How do you use squash: fry or salted or frozen?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't usually save seeds from my squash because of cross pollination. I like to sautée or grill my summer squash and zucchini.

      Delete