Cucurbita pepo
30 seeds
Maturity: 65 days
Benning’s Green Tint is an heirloom variety developed by Charles N. Farr in 1914, who selected for its uniform fruit and lovely soft green to cream color. Patty pan squashes have a long history of being grown on the East Coast by Native Americans and are an important traditional food in the Three Sisters Guild.
Vigorous 3' bushes provide good coverage for dense clusters of fruit. Small saucer-shaped squashes have a beautiful grey-green tint with deeply scalloped edges. Harvest small at 3-4" when you can still see the green tint before they turn white for most tender flesh and excellent flavor. Squash will mature to a creamy white and can get firm and pithy.
Listed on the Slow Food Ark of Taste as a food facing extinction, Benning's Green Tint's flavor comes out when sautéed or stuffed and roasted in the oven. A beautiful addition to squash mixes for market.
Open-pollinated squash needs to be hand pollinated if grown without insects present such as inside a hoop house or greenhouse.
FROM THE FARMERS
We have had much more success growing these outside without covering in a good summer than Yellow Crookneck and have found them to be more prolific. All summer squash in Alaska is a challenge and is best grown under covering to ensure enough warmth and high yields. Both varieties will thrive in the north with some protection and care and add a great deal of bounty to the summer harvest.