Pumpkin, Winter Squash 'Rouge Vif d'Etampes'

My neighbors planted this pumpkin in the spring and harvested about 10 squash off the vine in October, ranging in size from 10 pounds to ...Read More56 pounds! The flesh was sweet enough to eat raw, but chopping and baking this beast took hours. A Sawzall came in handy. Careful lifting these things so that you don't get a hernia!

This French heirloom is also called "Cinderella" because it has the classic flattened shape of Cinderella's coach rather than the more ty...Read Morepical round or oblong shape. The pumpkins are very decorative, due to both their shape and excellent deep orange-reddish colour. Once they are no longer wanted as decoration, they can be eaten, and they do in fact have an excellent flavour. The flesh is quite thick, meaning that the yield per pumpkin is quite high.

One of my pictures here shows a twelve pound pumpkin of this variety, next to smaller 'Jack Be Little' pumpkins. (which were relatively large given their variety, the Indian corn is better for scale)

The other picture shows the same pumpkin, cut open with seeds removed. The relatively small seed cavity can be noted, as well as the thick, deep orange flesh. Probably one of the best flavoured pumpkin varieties I have tried, the one tiny drawback of this variety over smaller pie pumpkin varieties like 'Small Sugar' is that the flesh does have some strings.

This is a lovely pumpkin that I have grown for years as a decoration. My friends who like pumpkin tell me it is one of the better pumpki...Read Morens, but I have not tasted it and generally don't care for pumpkin.

Introduced to the USA by Burpee in 1883, a bright red French cultivar for fall displays and pies. The fruit are flattened and run 10-15 lb.