True hubbard squash. Albert Swope / OpenPhoto.net / 2013 / CC BY 3.0
Hubbard Squash is now considered more of a term describing a group, though the original one “True Hubbard” is still available. Besides the squashes that have hubbard in their actual names, Boston Marrow, Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Redskin are also hubbard squashes.
- 1 Hubbard squash characteristics
- 2 Cooking Tips
- 3 Substitutes
- 4 Storage Hints
- 5 History Notes
- 6 Literature & Lore
-
7
Types of Hubbard Squash
- 7.1 Baby Blue Hubbard Squash
- 7.2 Baby Green Hubbard Squash
- 7.3 Blue Hubbard Squash
- 7.4 Boston Marrow Squash
- 7.5 Chicago Warted Hubbard Squash
- 7.6 Golden Delicious Squash
- 7.7 Golden Hubbard Squash
- 7.8 Green Hubbard Squash
- 7.9 Hubba Hubba Squash
- 7.10 Little Gem Hubbard Squash
- 7.11 Warted Hubbard Squash
Hubbard squash characteristics
The squashes in this group have hard, bumpy skin that ranges in colour from from greyish-blue to grey to orange to green (dark or light.) The shape of squashes in this group may vary from tear-dropped to more flattened tear drop.
Inside, they have sweet, orangish-yellow, somewhat grainy flesh that can be softer to cut than other squash such as acorn or butternut. The taste is also less sweet than acorn or butternut.
As some hubbard-type squashes are very large, they are often sold cut into smaller pieces.
Hubbard squashes are a winter squash.
Cooking Tips
Good boiled and mashed or served in chunks. Also good puréed and made into pumpkin pies — the flesh cooks up firmer and sweeter than many actual pumpkins do.
Substitutes
Another squash
Storage Hints
Uncut, store in cool place for up to 6 months. Once cut, refrigerate.
History Notes
Hubbard squash was first recorded in Marblehead, Massachusetts as arriving there in 1798, either from the West Indies or South America. It was named by nurseryman James J.H. Gregory (1827-1910) of Marblehead after an Elizabeth Hubbard of Massachusetts, who had introduced him to the squash.
Gregory received an award in 1860 for the squash from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. It was the hubbard squash that launched his career as a nurseryman.
Literature & Lore
“Of the origin of the Hubbard squash we have no certain knowledge. The facts relative to its cultivation in Marblehead are simply these. Upwards of twenty years ago, a single specimen was brought into town, the seed from which was planted in the garden of a lady, now deceased; specimen from this yield was given to Captain Knott Martin, of this town, who raised it for family use for a few years when it was brought to our notice in the year 1842, or ’43. We were first informed of its good qualities by Mrs Elizabeth Hubbard, a very worthy lady, through whom we obtained seed from Captain Martin. As the squash, up to this time, had no specific name to designate it from other varieties, my father termed it ‘hubbard squash.'” — James J.H. Gregory in The Magazine of Horticulture, 23 December 1857.