‘Pink Banana’ Squash

‘Pink Banana’ is a quirky-looking and beautifully-flavoured squash.

Can you think of a more impressive squash than the ‘Pink Banana’? It doesn’t look like a squash. It tastes like the best sort of squash you can imagine. It’s the sort of squash that could convert people who don’t like squash to loving squash.

Here is the hefty specimen that I grew this year on the allotment:

You’ll notice that this squash is stalkless. That was an accident:

Someone who was trying to be very helpful cut the stalks off all the squash when we brought them back from the allotment and when my back was turned. Ideally, you should leave the stem and a few inches of the stalk that it hangs off on the fruit, as this means it keeps longer. But this minor disaster was a good opportunity to see what happens when you do cut the stalk off and expose the flesh.

What happened was that a hard cap formed over the wound, in the same way as a cap will often form on a growing squash when there is a small wound. I left all the stalkless fruits on the warmest, sunniest windowsill to cure, and perhaps this helped them heal and seal. That this squash was still looking good in January is a very good sign indeed. I could have left it longer, but I wanted to eat it.

With a squash with such a good flavour, I don’t faff about with herbs or spices when I’m roasting this. I also tend to steer clear of drizzling the flesh with olive oil, mainly because it has enough moisture in it anyway. ‘Pink Banana’ is a good nutty squash with firm moist flesh and, in the case of this fruit at least, plenty of it. It’s on my list to grow again this year, which is all you need to know.