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BLUE
HUBBARD SQUASH
the Mystery Unveiled
Hubbard Squash
Described as a "starchy, dry, thick, flaky, floury, melting, nutty and
fine-textured winter
squash.....with brilliant orange flesh"
by Amy Goldman author of The Compleat Squash
History
The Hubbard
squash probably originated in South America and first arrived in
Marblehead, MA in the 1700's aboard sailing ships
from the West Indies.
James J. H. Gregory, author of Squashes and
How to Grow Them (1867) had a few stories about the origin of
the Hubbard Squash.
- An elderly
woman, who remembers tasting Hubbard squash when she was young, told
Gregory that a man named Green brought
the first Hubbard to Marblehead around 1798.
- Another
story has Elizabeth Hubbard, the Gregory's washerwoman, giving
Gregory seeds, which she had gotten from Captain Knot Martin, who
got them from an un-named woman gardener. This eventually started
Gregory in the seed business, and since the Gregory's were so fond
of "Ma'am Hubbard" (" a good, humble soul") the variety was named
for her.
- In 1981 Louise Martin Cutler, a Marblehead historian, noted
that her great-aunt Sarah Martin (sister to Captain Knot Martin)
actually developed the squash. Sarah and her sister Martha were well
known in Marblehead as gardeners, but since Sarah was quite bashful
and timid about approaching the Gregory's,
she entrusted the seed to her friend Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard.
So what
we now call the Hubbard squash could have been known as
the Martin squash.
"Cucurbitacean
- a person who regards pumpkins or squash with deep, often
rapturous love."
From The Compleat Squash, by
Amy Goldman, Artisan Books, New York, 2004
How to Break Open
a Hubbard Squash:
The best way to break open a
Hubbard is to place it in a large plastic bag or paper bag and drop
it on the ground! You can bake them whole but if it is too large,
break it and cook. Try our Mashed Winter Squash recipe.
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