Gold (or Golden) Nugget (Cucurbita maxima) appears to be more delicate than it is. This hard-shelled fairy coach has the toughest hide of all the small squashes. The brilliant yellow-orange pulp is moist, rather firm, and very smooth. Its highly variable flavor ranges from buttery and mild sweetpotato to just plain bland squash. Full maturity is essential, or flavor is nil (be sure the skin is dullish, not shiny). Orange- to grapefruit-size, this is one of the relatively new breed of petites, developed at North Dakota State University in the mid-1960s.
