Rolet Gem Squash

Rolet Gem Squash

Cucurbita pepo

A true South African heirloom squash. Rolet Gem squash is also known as Little Gem or by its Afrikaans name,'Skorsie'. This productive variety is an early producer of beautiful, round, dark green fruit that develops a really hard outer skin enabling short term storage of this awesome squash.

The flesh is a deep yellow to light orange and is sweet and rich with a lovely smooth, dense texture. Can be harvested as a 'baby gem' , boiled and served with a dollop of butter; at this stage you can eat the tender skin and seeds. When left to mature, the skin and seeds become tough, but the flavor of the flesh deepens, simply boil and scoop the flesh out of the hard shell, adding butter to taste.  A real South African favorite!

If you have any South African heritage you will know what Gem Squash are. In American terms, this would be considered a winter squash as they store quite well. This hard shelled squash is prolific and stores exceptionally well. I much prefer them after a month or two's storage to bring out the flavors. A unique aspect of Gem's is that once cooked they are very easily shelled.

It is interesting to note that these have become a major gourmet vegetable in Germany.Often only served in high-end restaurants.

These superb little squash are full of rich flavor that are unique to Gem squash. Many a traditional meal will have the squash typically served in one of three ways.

1) As young baby squash either whole or cut in half with skin and seed intact. The entire fruit is consumed skin, flesh and seed.

2) Mature halved squash are boiled in water, then seeds removed and served with a dollop of butter in the half-shell.

3) Finally, the gems are cooked and then shelled. With the flesh ladled straight onto the dinner plate.