Delicate garden-grown squash provides a variety of beneficial macro and micronutrients, and an impressive amount of fiber.
It’s hard to imagine a more perfect food plant than a beautiful delicate pumpkin. If we were to pack up and evacuate, our delicate seeds would come.
Named for their delicate, edible skin, delicatessens are as delicious as they are nutritious, especially the Honey Boat variety, one of the sweetest pumpkin varieties out there.
You’d think that with a name like delicata, these vegetables (fruits, technically) would be budget-busting to grow. It’s not like that. Delicata are classified as a summer squash, along with mild ones like Romanesco, but they store very well if they are clean and unblemished, so they are winter keepers in my books.
Delicata plants are apparently smart and certainly hardy. The large, beautiful leaves naturally repel insects with stinging microscopic fibers, and shade the soil and root zone beautifully. Delicata can be grown in a bed with most other vegetables, without any additional watering, and require very little maintenance.
Inevitably, some time after a generous hit of fruit, we see some variation of powdery mildew on the leaves, which, contrary to imagination, crunches them in a manner similar to freeze-drying. I cut off and bury the affected leaves in a remote corner of the back garden, a practice that opens up the vines to more air and sun. I like the way the ripening pumpkin, exposed to the elements, looks like the late summer sun. We trellis our pumpkin, which looks very elegant, but also helps with performance and space management.
Delicata isn’t considered a particularly nutrient-dense squash, compared to, say, a butternut, but they’re complex and well-rounded, providing an assortment of beneficial macro and micronutrients and an impressive amount of fiber.
Compared to spaghetti squash, which we also grow, delicata contains more protein, vitamins A and C, and provides more (but few) calories and carbohydrates. According to Nutritionix, the super sweet and meaty delicacy offers just 76 calories, 0.7g fat and 18g carbs per cup serving, with 5.7g fiber (23% Daily Value), 1.8g protein, 214% DV vitamin A, 33% DV vitamin C, 3.5% DV calcium, 14% DV potassium, and 5% DV iron.
Based on flavor alone, honey boat delicata wins hands down over other squash, with a texture and taste very similar to sweet potato. Cut a honey pot into crosswise slices, remove the seeds, drizzle with garlic oil and salt and roast for approximately 20 minutes at 175 ºC. The magnificent delicate rings can be served with skin, hot or cold as a side of vegetables, to enjoy it. in a roasted vegetable sandwich or salad, or with Vitamix in a high-fiber soup base or pasta sauce to thin with little more than vegetable stock and/or nut milk.
During this last week of atmospheric rivers, I stuffed roasted honey boats with a mix of wild and brown rice, lentils (red, black, laird), black-eyed beans, peas, barbies, apple chips, diced cherry tomatoes diced, pistachios. , pomegranate seeds and fresh dill. I cooked the rice and blackberry mixture in organic chicken broth flavored with sea salt and a homemade Thai spice blend, and tossed in the fresh ingredients just before serving, making sure their reds, greens, and golds shining against the magnificent copper color. flesh and skin of the previously roasted pumpkin.
To pre-roast the boats, cut the tender squash lengthwise with a very sharp knife, then scrape out the seeds and stringy flesh with a spoon. Rub the exposed meat with garlic oil, or olive oil and the cut edge of a clove of garlic, and season with sea salt and pepper. Roast cut side up in the oven at 175 C for approximately 30 minutes, until fork tender.
A very easy and very elegant trick is to roast a few clean pumpkin seeds coated in garlic oil next to the empty vessels, then use the toasted tiny seeds as a garnish.
The delicious filling mix is pretty enough for the pickiest holiday table, but more importantly, it’s nutrient-dense with lots of beneficial macro and micronutrients, antioxidants, fiber and more.
Not so delicate: the warrior princess of our urban permaculture garden.
Laura Marie Neubert is an urban permaculture designer based in West Vancouver. Follow her on Instagram @upfrontandbeautiful, learn more about permaculture by visiting her website Upfront & Beautiful or send her your questions here.
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(Video: Courtesy of West Vancouver Memorial Library)