October is the month when Wykham Park Farm’s home-grown pumpkins and squash come into their own.
After months of careful growing, the harvest produces a colourful display of different shapes, sizes and shades, from familiar orange pumpkins to unusual green, striped and blue-grey squash.
Many people use the words pumpkin and squash interchangeably, and there is a good reason for that. Pumpkins are part of the wider squash family.
While the traditional pumpkin is instantly recognisable, squash offers far more variety than many people realise, with flavours ranging from gently sweet to rich and nutty.
At Wykham Park Farm, the autumn harvest includes varieties such as Little Gem, Crown Prince and Harlequin. Crown Prince is known for its distinctive blue-grey skin and deep orange flesh, which develops a wonderfully sweet flavour when roasted.
Little Gem is smaller, with dark green skin and naturally sweet flesh, while Harlequin’s attractive markings make it as appealing to look at as it is to eat.
Pumpkins and squash are among autumn’s most versatile ingredients. They can be roasted with herbs, blended into warming soups, stirred through risottos or added to curries and casseroles. Squash also works beautifully in gratins, pies and seasonal baking.
Smaller varieties can even be hollowed out, stuffed and baked to create an impressive centrepiece for an autumn meal.
The seeds need not go to waste. Once cleaned and dried, they can be seasoned and roasted for a crisp snack or used to add texture to salads and soups.
Wykham Park Farm has been producing food near Banbury for five generations. Its market garden supplies the farm shop with an ever-changing selection of seasonal fruit and vegetables.
The pumpkins and squash are grown on the farm, carefully harvested and made available through the shop throughout October.
It is a harvest that captures everything special about autumn: rich colours, comforting flavours and locally grown food arriving at exactly the right time of year.
