Tennessee Sweet Potato Squash

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The inch of rain that fell yesterday greatly improved the prospects of the plants, flowers and fruit production. Overnight our plants turned a corner and became productive.

Slow Food USA has the best article about this unusual heirloom.

Male flower


Flower in profile
Beautiful leaves
Female flowerFlowers as big as my handsFemale flower with fruit
Heritage Harvest Seeds' site says it is an "historic squash (pre 1874) that is thought to have descended from the old Potato Pumpkin of the south that was introduced in the 1780’s from Jamaica via the slave trade. The Tennessee Sweet Potato Squash may actually be the same as the Potato Pumpkin that Thomas Jefferson grew at Monticello. First listed in 1847 by New York seedsman Grant Thorburn as Green Striped Bell and renamed by Burpee in 1883. The squash are pear shaped with a creamy white skin and striped with very faint green stripes. The flesh is to cream colored, fine grained and dry. The fruit average about 10-12 inches long and weigh from 10-12 pounds and are excellent keepers."
Recipes for winter sqush
If you have other ideas for using, serving winter squash, email me at mollyday1@gmail.com - we will have lots to make into coleslaw, bake into pies and puddings as well as make "pumpkin" soup.

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