Saturday 9 October 2010

A Curious Fruit...Vegetable?...Fruit...

So the time came to harvest my Kabocha. Winter is descending on the UK and frosts had ravaged my crop so I decided to cut my losses and harvest them.


Ripe kabocha have a developed flower scar, deep green hue to the skin with lighter green streaks and even orange patches showing through. The stalk will have a "corky" appearance.


An indicator of when to harvest is when the vines have died back, with a spaghetti-like appearance.





All lined up in a row on my kitchen counter. Ranging between 0.90kg and 1.5kg

Look it's almost as big as my head!

So, I shall wait about 1-3 months to let my Kabocha ripen. The carbohydrate levels in Kabocha intensify the longer they are left to ripen, these give the Kabocha that smooth, sweet flavour they are so famed for. I'll be making Kabocha no nimono in no time!

All images © ms_natya

0 comments:

Post a Comment