Long Pie Culinary Pumpkin OG
(102 days) Cucurbita pepo Open-pollinated. Probably an old Native American variety, or selected therefrom. Various sources and strains have included Algonquin, Indian, Golden Oblong, and possibly St. George. The best pumpkin for Yankee pies.Though widely grown in Androscoggin County, Maine, 80 years ago (an old-timer remembers them stacked up on porches like firewood), it almost became extinct. LeRoy Souther, of Livermore Falls, Maine, maintained Long Pie for more than 30 years and then brought seeds to cucurbit aficionado (and now JSS plant breeder) John Navazio’s Common Ground Fair squash booth in the late 1980s. Navazio exhibited one at the 1988 Fair, and then reintroduced it to commerce through Garden City Seeds in Montana.
3–5 lb fruits look like overgrown thick zucchinis to the uninitiated, but the telltale sign is an orange spot where the otherwise all-green elongated fruit rested on the ground. After ripening in storage, the whole fruit first blushes, then glows bright orange, signaling that its delicious smooth flesh is ready to be turned into incomparable pies. Your fork won’t know where the whipped cream ends and the pie begins!
Vines have enormous vigor and can achieve astonishing yields. Long Pies stored at 50° can keep all winter. Germinates poorly in cold soil. The under 5" long At the end of the season, small immature fruit make tasty “summer” squash. ①
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