Posted By FarmerJ on September 10, 2009

When we planned the garden plots this spring, we did so with the mindset that the entire process would be a fun learning experiment.  So, as part of the experiment, we ordered a variety of heirloom seeds for things we’ve never seen or eaten before ~ one of those varieties being the Boston Marrow Squash.  I’ve got one thing to say about these squash, and that is they are appropriately named because these things are the size of Boston!

Everything I’ve read about Boston Marrow Squash has said they are a large squash weighing between ten to  fifteen pounds.  Ten to fifteen pounds, they say?  Well, the squash in the photo above weighed in at 22.4 lbs ~ and it is one of the smaller ones!  You can see how it is dwarfing my 8-quart crockpot.

Both Darling Husbie and I were anxious to taste this miraculous monstrosity.  So I did everything a girl who was about to cut into a 22 lb squash should do.  I tied on my apron, put on my favorite pair of National Guard safety glasses and fired up Husbie’s 18v Sawsall, for I had some serious reciprocating to do here!  Abigail dashed off in one direction, the Mon-kay darted in the other and Peanut just remained stationary, quivering, afraid to move.

I’m just kidding about the Sawsall.  I ended up using my big Pampered Chef knife with the serrated edge.  Another thing I learned while researching about the Boston Marrow is that they apparently store well despite them having a much thinner skin than most varieties of winter squash.  I was very pleasantly surprised at how easily this big ol’ squash cut when I sank that knife into it.  I’m not sure, though, if that’s a testament to the quality of the Pampered Chef knife or the great characteristic of the Boston Marrow’s skin.

A few minutes later, the stove top was completely covered in squash pieces just aching to go into a nice slow oven.  There was so much, I had to bake it in two batches.  A couple of hours at 250° F had transformed those orange platforms into candy!  Squash so rich and sweet, it was truly like eating candy.   Many have raved about the flavor and texture of these squash, claiming they make a much better ‘pumpkin’ pie than any pumpkin out there.  One taste is all it took to convince me!

I decided to keep out six good sized pieces for dinner ~ it went wonderfully with Roasted Sticky Chicken ~ and pureed the rest.  Because of the thin nature of the skin, there really is very little waste with the Boston Marrows.  I should have weighed what I discarded to satisfy curiosity’s sake, but I would say there was less than a pound of skin.  That may sound like a lot, but when you’re talking about a 22.4 lb squash?  ‘Tis nuttin’!

When all was said and done ~ not including what I had set aside for dinner ~ I ended up with 3 blenders full of puree.  That equated to 15 cups, which formulates to 5 delicious deep dish pumpkin pies.

So then, if a 22 lb squash will provide enough puree for 5 deep dish pies ~ plus that I kept out for dinner ~ just think about how many pies 278.2 lbs of Boston Marrow will make!  That’s right.  I didn’t make a typo.  Darling Husbie pulled a few more out of the garden last night.  The largest one weighs 43.4 lbs; the smallest weighs a mere 21.8 lbs.  Then he tells me there’s still more out there that aren’t quite ready to be picked.  Perhaps that Sawsall isn’t such a bad idea after all!

I foresee Deep Dish Pie #1 in the near future.  Saturday evening sounds good ~ after Husbie’s official PT test.  If I get the ‘thumbs up’ from my taste testers, I’ll be sure to share the recipe…and the squash, if you want any!  ♥

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