I’m still eating my way through my winter squashes. It’s amazing how well they keep. These thick, nobbly skinned varieties seem to keep even better than the butternut squashes I’ve grown before. Considering I harvested these around mid October, the flesh inside is still juicy and fresh. And a gorgeous colour, ranging from burnt orange in the centre out to lime green at the edges of the rind, which is a dark olive green.

This is an old variety called ‘Chicago Warted Hubbard’. There are other hubbard varieties available. Roasted up with a drizzle of olive oil and some seasoning, this is definitely the sweetest squash I’ve tasted. I highly recommend it for ease of growing, keep and taste.

Having scraped the seeds from the centre, I have washed and wiped them with kitchen paper. It always seems a real shame to discard these, though if I try growing them, the chances are I won’t get more Chicago Warted Hubbards. They were grown along with Turks Turban squashes and would have cross pollinated with these, and possibly other peoples varieties from the allotment. But hey, maybe it will be interesting to see what emerges. I could have created a great new variety, or something really rubbish that will end up on the compost heap, if it even germinates to start with. The sceptic in me thinks it’ll probably be the latter, but I’ll never know without a bit of trial and error. Who knows – I might be dishing up some Warted Turbans this year!