I have some seeds I picked up at a local oriental food store for "Hybrid
Squash, King Ka Ae F1". The seeds are from the Asia Seed Co, Seol, Korea. I
bought them and am currently growing them. I choose them just to try
something different. If you go to http://www.asiaseed.kr /, select the
seventh entry under "Shopping Category", you see a page with different
squaash types. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, you see [1] [2],
indicating two pages. Select the [2]. Scroll to bottom. The lower left
picture shows three zuchinni-type green squash. The site and seed packet are
all in Korean and I've not had much luck translating. I asked at the store,
but the young man there didn't know anything about them except that he
thought they were known as "Korean Pumpkin".
So, they are a vining squash plant, prolific. I picked the fruit at about
eight inches, they look just as pictured on the web site and see packet.
They taste like pumpkin or winter squash - not at all like a summer squash.
Anyone know anything about these? How they are grown, how they are eaten?
Harvested small, big, etc.?
I can take pics of the plants in my garden and post them if anyone wants to
see them.
The picture on the web page almost exactly like the squash that I've seen
used in the Korean television show Dae Jang Geum**. These were sliced
in coins (or half-moons) and added to stir-fried, steamed and stewed
dishes. One time I saw it as a dried vegetable, which was soaked to
reconstitute and then used in a stewed dish.
Google translate gives the name of the squash you are talking about as
"stud squash" -- certainly sounds like an awkward translation. Is that some
reference to, hmm, virility?
This is obviously not a zuchinni type sqash as it grows on running vines,
but from the picture given it looks to be a variety selected to be used when
still tender and young. (In fact, the previous page has a picture of what is
obviously a typical Western zuchinni/ summer squash.)
I think you might want to look for Korean recipes that require "ho-bak" or
"ae ho-bak" (baby squash) and see what you might like to try.
If you were to take pictures, I'd like to see the blossoms and the stem end
of the fruit. Are the leaves and flowers the same size as you'd expect in, say
a pumpkin or are they smaller?
**Dae Jang Geum was shown in the US under the title "Jewel in the Palace."
It is a historical drama based on a real person, set in Korea in the early 16th
century. Lots of cooking, traditional medicine, some small amount of
gardening, plenty of political intrigue and one of the most marvelous
villianesses ever. The story is colorful and melodramatic, but the acting
restrained. (It is perhaps my favorite television show EVER. I originally saw
it on the defunct AZN cable network, but I got the whole series on DVD for
my birthday this year and it is just as good as I remembered.)
In Korean, with English subtitles.
Cribbing from Wikipedia:
Dae Jang Geum... is a 2003 TV series produced by South Korean TV channel
MBC(Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation).
Loosely based on the historical figure depicted in the Annals of Joseon
Dynasty, the show focuses on Jang-geum (played by Lee Young Ae), the
first female royal physician of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. The main
themes are her perseverance and the portrayal of traditional Korean culture,
including Korean royal court cuisine and traditional medicine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dae_Jang_Geum
Thanks for the info! We've had hot weather lately, and the plants haven't
done as well as my other squash has. They did real well until the temp hit
about 85+. A week ago we had almost a week of 100 degree weather, and the
plants did not like it at all. They wilt easily under the sun, much more so
then other squash.
There weren't any blossoms open today, but here is a pic that shows the
leaves and a bud that will probably be open tomorrow. The flowers look like
other squash flowers - I'll be sure to get a pic of this one tomorrow when
it is open.
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2009/2009AugustKoreanPumpkin/images/DSCF6228.JPG
They are long vining plants and have grown out into the grass and the
neighbors field. The leaves are mottled, this pic shows the older leaves
with faint white blotches, and newer yellowish leaves grew when the weather
was hot.:
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2009/2009AugustKoreanPumpkin/images/DSCF6222.JPG
3-4 inch fruit - note the damage to the leaf. Some of my cucumbers developed
the same type of leaf damage after the last bout of 100+ heat we had, where
other varieties seemed to like the heat just fine:
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2009/2009AugustKoreanPumpkin/images/DSCF6221.JPG
This morning my wife discovered a long vine that went through our tomatillos
and came out the other end and started to climb the fence - I had no idea it
was there. You can see the tomatillo fruits in this pic, as well as the vine
snaking its way through. This fruit is ~10 inches long or so - that is my
wife's hand holding it. I haven't decided if I want pick it or let it grow
and see what it does. The fruits taste like pumpkin, not zuchinni, and I'm
thinking it might make good pies (we make squash pies out of all kinds of
winter squash - nummy!)
From the pictures so far, this sure looks like a Cucurbita squash, and with
the longish stems on the young fruit, possibly C. moschata. (It's definitely
not C. maxima.)
Very interesting. Would love to try it.
http://zootal.no-ip.info/stuff/2009/2009AugustKoreanSquashSeedPacket/seedpacketback.jpg
I'm letting a couple of them grow big to see what they do. Should be
interesting :)
ip.info/stuff/2009/2009AugustKoreanSquashSeedPacket/seedpacketfront.jpg
ip.info/stuff/2009/2009AugustKoreanSquashSeedPacket/seedpacketback.jpg
Well, at least some of the information one the back of the packet doesn't
seem to be a match for the front...
The line italic text, "Beta bulgaris" a common typo for Beta vulgaris and the
genus 'Beta' is most definitely beets. The planting/harvesting times in the
chart seem be more appropriate for beets than any sort of squash as well.
(There's a pasted on correction of some sort in the information table at the
bottom of the packet, too.)
BTW, for some reason my newsreader mashes together any URLs you post
as one line right after another. Weird. I end up having to do some cutting
and pasting to sort them out.
I am looking for some information also. Attached is a photo of the packet, the
information is in Korean / Hangul. Maybe someone will be kind enough to
translate and post the information.
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