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From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle)
Newsgroups: net.garden,net.cooks
Subject: Vegetable of the week: tatume squash
Message-ID: <2326@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 21-Jun-84 15:16:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.2326
Posted: Thu Jun 21 15:16:33 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Jun-84 11:12:54 EDT
Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills
Lines: 26

Anyone out there have any experience with tatume squash?  My gardening
buddy and I put some in this year, and we are pleased, to say the
least.  You may have seen tatume under the name "Mexican squash" in
your supermarket from time to time; it is a small squash that looks
much like an oval zucchini.  We generally use tatume as a substitute
for either zucchini or yellow squash, but it has a delicate flavor that
is hard to describe but which we prefer to both of its rivals.  Its
skin avoids the hard rind-like character of too-mature yellow squash,
while its center remains firm even when cooked.

The plants bear abundantly, producing long vines which (unfortunately)
must be prevented from taking over the whole garden.  When a
combination of squash bugs and drought made our yellow squash begin to
give up the ghost a couple of weeks back, the tatume kept on thriving
(although it may succumb yet).  The only problem we have had is a minor
one: since the fruits match the dark green of the plants' leaves, we
have had a tendency to miss them and leave them on the vine until they
are huge, overripe and a bit seedy.  We're thinking that the solution
may be to fix a big batch of tatume bread!

All in all, tatume seems like such a winner that we are both rather
surprised that it is relatively unknown both to gardeners and to
cooks.

--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle