Until my retirement in the summer of 2021, I had never grown anything but weeds, which evidently, I’m pretty good at. However, growing anything else was hit and miss, mostly miss. During my working life my wife and I spent a lot of time in Asia. One of the commonly used vegetables often sliced thin, breaded, and deep fried on tempura platters is kabocha squash, also called Japanese pumpkin. Kabocha is a winter squash with a creamy texture. It’s used in many Asian cuisines.
We could not bring home seeds but here we found that we could purchase them online or at some garden shops. To our surprise, we found that it was easy to grow. My family home is less than a hundred miles from Yellowstone National Park. With the relatively short growing season in this area there are many food plants that are difficult to grow. So, we really had not expected the results that we got. This is our second year of planting the squash-like pumpkin.
Both years the seeds were sprouted in our laundry room in April and then planted just before the first of May when the forecast gave little danger of frost. I did water both plants at least once a day, sometimes twice per day when it got hot. We had to leave for a week in early June, to my surprise they were still alive when we returned. However, they definitely needed watering.
If there was one food plant, besides the potato, that I would consider as a survival food a clueless gardener like me was able to grow, it would be kabocha. It is even easier to grow than the potato. Once planted, it is very hardy and thrives with little care. One advantage of growing this as a survival food is that the heavy fruit is covered beneath the rapidly spreading thick leaves. And they really spread, covering easily more than twice the planted plot. “What in the world are those leaves? Are they covering a swamp?” Are questions we have been asked by a neighbor. In times of famine or food shortages my plan is to plant sprouted plants in several unoccupied plots around our rural area. It appears that most people don’t associate it with an edible plant. Although a gardener could easily identify the squash type leaves and be inclined to investigate further. Botanically, Kabocha is a fruit because it develops from the plant’s flower.
The leaves grow on the end of an unusual tubular stem covered with small prickly protrusions. Kabocha squash originated in the Americas. Like all squashes its ancestor was first domesticated in Mesoamerica thousands of years ago. The Portuguese brought it from Cambodia, where it is theorized, they introduced it earlier in the same sixteenth century. A food source easily stored on long sea voyages. The Japanese Kabocha originates from the phrase in Portuguese “Abo bora” which means Cambodian gourd or squash. It is so ingrained in the Asian culture that many people in their own countries consider it uniquely their own, and have given it local names. Once it was in Japan it quickly became a dietary staple and was further refined and cultivated for traits like storage life, sweetness, and texture.
Besides our small garden, there was an unused piece of ground measuring seven feet by four and a half feet by the detached garage. For the last two years in that small space, we have grown a couple of dozen large kabocha. Each of them weighs several pounds — up to eight pounds. The Kabocha ranges in size from nine to twelve inches in diameter. The flesh is not fibrous like a pumpkin. It has a rich taste. A very dense fruit, the sweetness varies from barely noticeable to a surprisingly almost sweet potato taste depending on when it is harvested and for how long it has been set aside to further ripen. In Japan, I was told they can be stored in a cool, dry, and preferably dark place for up to six months. Everything I have read here in the States recommends storing up to one month. But we have eaten them more than two months after the third week of September harvest in late November.
One cup of cooked Kabocha supplies the following nutrition value:
- Fiber 5.7 g
- Vitamin A 245 % Daily Value
- Vitamin C 23% Daily Value
- Vitamins B1, B3, B5, B6 (variable, depending on soil and conditions)
- Potassium 10% Daily Value
- Carbohydrates 26 g
- Calories 100 Kcal
Kabocha has a low glycemic index, making it perfect for people managing their blood sugar. It is a food rich in antioxidants. The deep orange flesh provides beta-carotene. The high fiber content makes it a filling and satisfying dish. The outer skin is much harder than a pumpkin or squash. This rind protects the flesh and allows it to be stored much longer than summer squash. All parts of the fruit can be eaten, including the skin. The seeds can be roasted and processed like pumpkin seeds. However, place some aside for planting next spring. Put the seeds on a baking sheet in one layer and sprinkle them with olive oil and salt or whatever spices you may prefer. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake them for fifteen to twenty minutes. They can be stored unrefrigerated for up to two weeks.
My wife’s favorite way to prepare the fruit is to cut a pie-shaped quarter or third from a smaller kabocha and then steam it for twenty minutes. A quick, satisfying, and easy meal. The skin is very hard. A sharp pointed knife is required to cut it. Be careful that the squash is firmly anchored before attempting to cut into it. One fourth of the big squash is usually enough for the two of us. I like to eat it with butter and salt like a baked potato. Like the potato, the iron-hard skin after twenty minutes of steaming is edible, you can cut it with a fork after steaming.
Kabocha can be roasted, steamed, or simmered. It can also be sauteed the Japanese way with soy sauce and butter. In a Japanese set meal miso soup is usually included with a chunk or two of boiled kabocha in it. In Japan there is a seasonal tradition of eating kabocha on the winter solstice, Toji. The fruit symbolizes hope for good health and good luck in the cold wintry months until spring. Until recent times winter vegetables were scarce. The nutrients in kabocha were an important source of vitamins to ward off illness.
During World War Two, kabocha was such an important food crop for the civilian population that it was grown even in school yards to subsidize the agricultural output of the country. That was (and is) a nutritious crop that anyone could grow and store for fairly long periods and still retain its nutrition.
This year — like last year — I harvested our kabocha toward the end of September. Although in a warmer climate that is too early. There were many softball-size fruits that would grow into edible fruit if planted somewhere with a longer growing season. They are ready to harvest when the rind has a dull but not shiny appearance. And the stem is dry and cork-like. Where the heavy fruit has rested on the ground it has a yellow spot; this does not detract from the taste or nutrition of the kabocha.
When the edges of the leaves turn brown, that is another good sign that the growth of the fruit is beginning to slow.
The kabocha reaches peak sweetness after being stored for two months. According to some sources most varieties can be stored for several months at a temperature between fifty-and sixty-degrees Fahrenheit which confirms the “good for a half year of storage” that I had been told. This year, I am going to set one aside as a test.
According to Google: “You can store Kabocha squash for four to six months or even longer, with some varieties lasting up to six months under ideal storage conditions of 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit with 50-70% humidity and good ventilation.”
When the days begin to shorten and the nights start to cool off the leaves turn brown on the edges. This is also a sign that the growing cycle is at its end. By less than a month later, the leaves have turned completely brown and are dead at this latitude.
When you water the plant, it is only necessary to water underneath where you initially planted it, that is where the roots are. I made the mistake of after the leaves quickly spread into a jungle-like canopy covering part of the driveway and the adjacent garden also, of watering it by spraying across the tops of the leaves. Soon, a whitish fungal type of growth appeared on the leaves. The leaves tend to grow into a slightly cupped shape. Water sprayed across the tops from above settled in the center of the leaves.
A quick Internet perusal showed that leaf fungus can be cured by spraying with a one part 3% hydrogen peroxide to four parts water solution sprayed on both sides of the leaf. The fruit itself did not appear to be affected by either the fungus or the cure.
Kabocha seeds can be purchased from many online dealers here in the United States. Also, Don Quijote and Don-Don-Donki stores, both Japanese chains, in Hawaii, Guam and throughout Asia. An easy-to-grow, filling, and nutritious food that was used in the past for storing on long ocean voyages and times of famine.
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