(C. maxima) Lower Salmon River carries connection here in the PNW to both its namesake region of Idaho in the interior mountain west and to the Puget Sound where the old Abundant Life Seed Foundation maintained and attempted to popularize the variety to northwest growers. While among squash aficionados its popularity is growing, the medium/large speckled salmon-pink squash still deserves wider recognition for its fantastic suite of traits. Vines are vigorous and maturity is early which is a boon in the north, and a very hard and thick skin makes the fruits very long keeping: easily until sun kissed, vine ripened tomatoes replace winter squash as the flavor of the day, and with some care even until the following autumn's crop comes in. The flesh is very dense with low moisture content (which aids in storage) but strangely reminds us almost of moschata squashes for its fine texture and sweet, fruity flavor. It is excellent as a soup squash, or for traditional roasting or braising preparations, but it also lends itself very well to uncooked (pickled or marinated/oil cured) uses as well (something I rarely look to maxima species for) making it quite versatile in the kitchen. Be sure to have a good cleaver or heavy, sturdy chefs knife for the processing as the skin and flesh are both quite dense. Fruits can vary in size from 5 to almost 15 pounds but the most common come in around the 7-8 pound mark. Both smooth and turban-button blossom end types are common in the natural genetic breadth of the variety. 90 days. MP
