The puzzling item.

Pumpkin ‘Jap (or Kent)’

pic from here..

http://www.mrfothergills.com.au/au/pumpkin-jap-or-kent—6455.aspx

1. What’s the concensus? Does Jap stand for Japanese Or Just Another Pumpkin or both?

2. Is what’s called in Australia a Jap and what’s called a Kent Pumpkin always the same thing?

3. Was there a name change in the recent past where what had been called Jap Pumpkins were thereafter called Kent Pumpkins Has been suggested that it was possibly for PC reasons (political correctness).

4. Whatever they are they’re grammas not pumpkins, is that correct?

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Finally, have this proven recipe by way of thanks for any responses…

note: recipe accompanies photo here..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tapperboy/2701133318/

recipe text follows…

Gramma pie

1kg Gramma, (trimmed weight)
1/3 cup Sugar
Grated rind 1 orange
Juice and grated rind 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon Sultanas
1 teaspoon Golden Syrup
1 teaspoon Mixed spice

Crunchy sweet Pie Pastry

1 cup Plain flour
1cup Self raising flour
Good pinch salt
150g Butter
1 Small Egg
2 tablespoons Caster sugar

Peel gramma, discard seeds then chop into pieces and cook with a little water in a covered saucepan for a good 3/4 hour.

Drain in a colander until cold, pressing lightly to extract as much of the liquid as possible.

Transfer gramma into a bowl, add sugar, orange rind, then the juice and rind of the lemon.
Add sultanas, golden syrup and mixed spice.

Taste, add more lemon juice if preferred.

Refrigerate until ready to make the pie.

Preheat oven to moderately hot (190 deg to 200 deg C).

To make the pastry, sift both the flours with salt into a bowl, then rub in butter.
Beat the egg with sugar and add to the flour.
Mix quickly by hand into a dough.
Knead lightly with a little extra flour.
Roll out 3/4 of the pastry to fit a 20 cm metal pie plate (don’t make the mistake of rolling out the pastry too thinly).

Fill the pastry-lined pie plate with the gramma mixture.
Wet the edges then roll out remaining pastry and place on top of the pie.
Trim away any excess with a knife then press edges to seal with a fork.
Brush with milk and sprinkle with a little extra sugar (this makes it extra crunchy).

Bake in a moderately hot oven for about one hour.

Serve warm with thick cream or with homemade vanilla custard or with vanilla ice cream.

Special Note: I used on of my microplane graters to harvest ALL the rind from the lemon and the orange and there was a good amount of juice got from the lemon. The Citrus aspect to this pie was a pleasant surprise :)

I never call any a gramma. Except occassionally my mum’s mum ;-) Everything is a pumpkin. I notice in the USA a lot of the things we call pumpkin they call ‘winter squash’. They say “Oh we don’t eat pumpkin” but they only mean the big hallowean things.

I regularly buy Jap, particularly for pumpkin pie (have a die for recipe) and pumpkin soup. Find it creamy, rich and thick. I haven’t had much luck finding Jap seeds, and maybe the name issue is the problem. I’ve never seen “Kent” for sale here in Bris.

Have I answered your questions? NOPE. But I’m keen to know what names Jap might go by so I can get seeds.

4. Whatever they are they’re grammas not pumpkins, is that correct?

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Yes,technically it’s one of several, but I suspect that when most people talk about old fashioned Grammas they mean a specific thing.

SueBk said:

I never call any a gramma. Except occassionally my mum’s mum ;-) Everything is a pumpkin. I notice in the USA a lot of the things we call pumpkin they call ‘winter squash’. They say “Oh we don’t eat pumpkin” but they only mean the big hallowean things.

I regularly buy Jap, particularly for pumpkin pie (have a die for recipe) and pumpkin soup. Find it creamy, rich and thick. I haven’t had much luck finding Jap seeds, and maybe the name issue is the problem. I’ve never seen “Kent” for sale here in Bris.

Have I answered your questions? NOPE. But I’m keen to know what names Jap might go by so I can get seeds.

I used seeds for a stupidmarket one, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them around. The local Coles here sometimes calls them Kent. I did ask about it and was told it’s just what they’re called down south.

Ours sprouted from the compost, before theat the fruit was bought from the local supermarket (Nth Coast NSW).

tapperboy said:

Ours sprouted from the compost, before theat the fruit was bought from the local supermarket (Nth Coast NSW).

i call them ‘jap’ here in sa. (never heard of kent).
does it matter what they are called?
butternut are better IMHO.

pepe said:

tapperboy said:

Ours sprouted from the compost, before theat the fruit was bought from the local supermarket (Nth Coast NSW).

i call them ‘jap’ here in sa. (never heard of kent).
does it matter what they are called?
butternut are better IMHO.

I find Jap more reliable. Butternut can be a bit watery.

find Jap more reliable. Butternut can be a bit watery.
—— i believe you – but down in the desert southland its the reverse – jap can be watery and b/nut floury.