What is the difference between pumpkins squash and gourds

Fall is the season for squash soup and pumpkin pie, right alongside decorative gourds of all shapes and sizes. Which word we use usually depends on whether they make it onto your plate or are relegated to eye candy. Prepare to get some facts squashed into your gourd about the difference between squash and gourds , including the different varieties of each and the big question: is a pumpkin a squash or a gourd? The word squash is typically used to refer to the kind of fruit with a hard rind surrounding edible flesh, like butternut and acorn squash which are varieties of winter squash or zucchini and yellow squash varieties of summer squash.

Pumpkins are a kind of squash. Squash and gourds along with pumpkins , which are simply a type of squash are members of the Cucurbitaceae family of plants. Despite the similarities, the words squash and gourds are often used differently, as anyone who has tried to eat their gourd knows.

Getting the terminology right is the difference between a delicious fall meal and a bitter hard mess of a gourd that should have stayed on the front porch.

There are summer squash that have soft skins and are harvested in warmer months think zucchini and yellow squash , and then there are winter squash , which have a hard shell covering a soft edible flesh and seeds like pumpkins and butternut squash. Summer squash plants reach maturity in 45 to 60 days, while winter squash typically take 80 to days. So if it looks good in your fall cornucopia, it's probably a gourd and if it tastes good at dinner or in a pie, it's probably a squash.

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