Gill’s Blue Hubbard Squash

If all you’ve ever known is Acorn or Butternut squash, then you will flip your lid when you taste the likes of Gill’s Blue Hubbard. Think: starchy, dry, thick, flaky, floury, nutty, melting, fine textured – and big! It’s a smooth-rinded version of the classic Blue Hubbard, with True Hubbard and Gill’s Sweet Meat in its ancestry. I plan to include Gill’s Sweet Meat in my upcoming book on squash, along with Gill’s Blue Hubbard, to make the book even more “compleat.” Sweet Meat is a family favorite of Mike Dunton’s, proprietor of Victory Seeds, and now it’s a favorite of mine.

 

Genus and Species: Cucurbita maxima, Hubbard Group

Size: 23” long by 11” wide

Weight: 16 pounds

Rind Color: subdued brilliant green

Flesh Color: toned down yellow ocher

Fiber: none evident

Best uses: Excellent table vegetable

Date of Introduction: 1954; Gill Brothers Seed Co., Portland, Oregon.

Synonym: Gill’s Sugar Hubbard

Seed Sources: Sand Hill Preservation Center, Territorial Seed