With its many decorative and delicious varieties, squash is a consumer's delight…

Squash belong to the huge gourd family (90 genera and 800 species), which includes a large number of fruits-vegetables that come in an astonishing variety of shapes and sizes. Eaten in South America as early as 8,000 BC, they were introduced into Europe in the 16th century. They come in both edible and inedible varieties.

Fact sheet
Edible squash include many major species:
Cucurbita maxima is represented by pumpkins and giraumans (turban squash), which have some of the largest fruits in the genus and even the entire vegetable kingdom (up to 3 quintals for the Atlantic Giant variety!). Also included are traditional pumpkins (rouge vif d’Etampes, bronzé de Monthléry, jaune gros de Paris, bleu de Hongrie), giraumons (or turban squash), potimarrons and other "Hubbard" and "Blue banana" squash (oblong with a bluish tint).
Cucurbita pepo (or "true squash") is the main species, including courgettes, pattypan, spaghetti squash (the cooked flesh comes away as long strands that look and taste rather like spaghetti), "piment" squash, as well as the delicious "Sweet dumpling" and "Delicata" (sweet potato squash) varieties with a taste reminiscent of dried fruit and the "Jack’O Lantern", hollowed out and decoratively cut for Halloween, etc.

Cucurbita moschata (butternut squashes) includes "Butternut" (as soft as butter), "Sucrine du Berry ", "Musquée de Nice", "Musquée de Provence" and butternut squashes from America and Japan.
Cucurbita mixta (Mexican squashes) and cucurbita ficifolia (Siam squash or Malabar melon) come from Central America.
In addition, there are the Cucurbita foetissima (inedible), cucurbita lageneria (gourds) and cucurbita benincassa (calebashes), which are mostly used for decoration.

Production and consumption
Squash are harvested in autumn. They are easy to keep, which means they can be sold right up to the spring with the butternut squash from Provence being the most widely sold variety. They are propagated via interseeding or direct seeding. While annual production is around 26,000 metric tons (excluding courgettes), it is subject to strong fluctuations linked to climate conditions, the cultivation's state of health and the length of the harvest. Most sales are made between October and December.

At Rungis Market
According to Mr. Geoffroy Bienaimé, Sales Manager of the company Pierre Lacassagne, "the market is currently experiencing a decline following high sales over the last ten years. With the diminishing interest in Halloween, squashes are now used more for cooking than for decoration.

We sell a little over 100 metric tons in season (spaghetti, turban squash, potimarron and mini-potimarrons). People no longer want to buy the largest specimens (200 kg +)… ".