Elizabeth Schneider

Squashes, Winter (Pumpkins and Other Large Types): Jarrahdale or Australian pumpkin

Cucurbita maxima

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top 1000Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini
Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini

By Elizabeth Schneider

Published 2001

  • About

Jarrahdale or Australian pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima), while not a regular at the American fall harvest, is an old variety worth inviting to the table. First ask it home to admire its elegantly lobed form and pastel green-gray skin—like finest celadon porcelain, cloudy and deep. You can enjoy it for months, as I did in a warm city apartment, before cooking it.

But it is not just a pretty object. Cut open, the brilliant cadmium flesh, which oozes clear yellow juice, smells grassy and fresh. The rock-solid pulp is copious, surrounding a small cavity packed with neat ropes of tan seeds. Slicing is surprisingly easy because the thin skin is easily pierced—usually a sign of immaturity, like the shininess of the skin. For this Australian cultivar, however, a thin, shiny skin is normal.