Pumpkins grown for pigs

[Fluffnpuff]

I started a thread last year trying to identify a type of heirloom yellow sweet corn that my grandmother grew. In the spirit of trying to reconstruct the traditional farming methods/herilooms used by family members now deceased i have a similar question only this time in regards to a pumpkin.

In similar fashion to the generic "eating corn" and "field corn" my grandmother apparently referred to these pumpkins as pig pumpkins because she grew them to feed to her hogs. The taste was greatly inferior to the green stripped cushaws she grew so they never ate them.

Her children gave the following descriptions

1. It was the same color as a long island cheese pumpkin http://www.rareseeds.com/long-island-cheese-pumpk/
but unlike the L.I.C. it was entirely smooth without ridges or indentations. They say it was very similar to a winter luxury pie pumpkin only it was the tan color of the long island cheese. For comparison here a link to the winter luxury pie
http://www.rareseeds.com/winter-luxury-pie-p/
The only other description was that its taste made it unfit for human consumption



Does any one have a good guess as what breed the "pig pumpkin" actually is? It was common on the Kentucky Tennessee border during the 1950's

 

[chooks4life]

I've seen similar descriptions given to the giant pumpkins people breed for shows, they're apparently not GM, just massive old breeds with bad tastes that are ornamental only. Or perhaps for livestock feed too but people have forgotten that. Kind of like a lot of heirloom breeds being described as 'ornamental' just because they don't perform the same as modern cultivars or GM ones.

Might help to check if the giant pumpkins used for competitions are what you're after. Sorry, I don't recall the name. We grew Jap pumpkins, or Kent pumpkins some call them, or more to the point they grow themselves like a weed, one plant produced about two tons of beautifully flavored pumpkins but we're not big pumpkin fans so gave them to a pig farmer who was quite thrilled with that. I'm sure his pigs were too.

Best wishes.