3

My volunteer "Pumkini" came up in my flower bed and I let it grow. The fruit is large and egg-shaped with a green skin (so far). It is immature. Can I eat it like a zucchini anyone know?

Heidi Fredrick
  • 31
  • 1
  • I've never seen a pumpkin/zucchini hybrid but I have had zucchini/yellow squash crosses and they are definitely edible. Sometimes they are yellow with zucchini-like marking and other times they are yellow and green striped but are pretty much like what you'd expect. I'd expect what you have to be edible but you won't know if they taste good until you try them. A picture would be interesting. – jwh20 Aug 25 '21 at 19:28

1 Answers1

1

According to Okiedawn of Houzz/Gardenweb, you can eat young unripe pumpkins the same as summer squash. If it's more mature, you might be able to use it more like a winter squash (and I might add that it may ripen the rest of the way indoors, if you keep it in storage a while). I imagine your cross would be similar to that or zucchini. Crosses between C. maxima and C. pepo are supposed to be rare, though (so, if there's an alternative explanation, I would consider it, too).

I've eaten unripe winter squash before. I'd recommend cooking them (like frying them up like you would with a yellow summer squash), though. If they're bitter, I wouldn't eat them (bitterness tends to indicate higher levels of cucurbitacins, which are toxic).

Brōtsyorfuzthrāx
  • 17,794
  • 4
  • 27
  • 65