Kakai Pumpkin

[peispud]

Anyone have seeds for Kakai Pumpkin? Wondering if anyone
has grown this before? Seeds are hull-less and supposed to
be excellent roasted. Austrian-type pumpkin.

Peter

[Raymondo]

Johnny's has seeds for this one. Have a look at (http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?category=1&subcategory=599&item=2860).
It looks like Lady Godiva, another hulless seed producer.

[peispud]

Thanks for the link. Seems to be a problem with the handling
of cookies on that site. I can't access most items when I
browse vegetables so I ordered a catalog.
It's the "Kakai is a variety of the Austrian type that yields the valuable green pumpkin seed oil that some European studies show promotes prostate health." part i'm interested in as to
why I want to grow this variety. You never know...

Peter

[crazytomato]

Hi peter,lady godive is a true austrian-type pumkin used for there seeds.You can rost them taste is good.In austria they were used making vegetable oil,they pressed the oil out of the seeds.I can order them here for you but that will take some time

[peispud]

Originally Posted by crazytomato

Hi peter,lady godive is a true austrian-type pumkin used for there seeds.You can rost them taste is good.In austria they were used making vegetable oil,they pressed the oil out of the seeds.I can order them here for you but that will take some time

Hi crazytomato
I think I have them ordered now but if not I will contact
you again in 2 weeks. My last frost is late May/early June
so I do have a bit of time.

Peter

[phreddy]

Tell me more about these seeds please. Are they just eaten raw? What of the flesh, does that cook well?
Don't really know what to ask. Make me a sales pitch please!

[peispud]

I haven't had this variety of pumpkin as yet, but as they are OP I will never have to look for them again
I imagine the flesh would be the same cooked as any other
pumpkin and could be used for pies or jam.
The seeds would be roasted and then eaten; pumpkin seeds
are delicious, I learned that as a kid.
Oil would somehow be extracted from raw seed.

[orflo]

There are quite a few of these 'seed pumpkins' , not all are Austrian, St.Gotthard seems to come from Hungary, although that is the name of a Swiss village, 'rankenlose olkurbis' was once distributed bu the renowned IPK-Gatersleben, it's a bush type,'Menhart' is probably Austrian, as is the already mentioned Lady Godiva.There are some others, but I don't remember their names. Most of these mentioned above are not available for buying, they are strictly maintained by amateurs.
The original use of the pumpkins was probably seed eating, some of the cucurbita mixta are also selected for that purpose. Which also implicates they aren't selected for their flesh. I tried some of these and I preferred the flesh of for instance sugarloaf or one of the kuris, by far. But the seeds are tasty, indeed roasted and very nutritious,
Frank

[peispud]

Hi orflo
Would you have any seeds of any of those varieties you have tried? I have lots of tomato varieties to trade.

Peter

[Ruth_10]

Peter,
I have grown Kakai several times. The roasted seeds are just wonderful. You will not be disappointed. I don't think we ever tried eating the flesh. I do recall reading somewhere that it was so-so.

I would grow Kakai every year except that the disappointment is too great when the vine borers hit.

I last grew Kakai in 2004, so my seed will be at least that old, but if your other sources don't pan out, let me know and I will send you some.

[peispud]

Hi Ruth
Sent you a pm.

Peter

[orflo]

I am sorry, Peter, I don't have any seeds of thes e mentioned above , I only did get a few and I sow them all, without hand-pollinating afterwards,
Frank

[Raymondo]

I've only tried Lady Godiva, which is American by the way, developed by the USDA and released in 1972. The flesh is not really edible when cooked as it's too stringy. I've seen references to it being okay raw though I've not tried this myself.

[orflo]

An other Austrian one is Styrian hulless, with good oily seeds, I think I do have seeds of this one left, but they'll be a few years old (which shouldn't be a problem),
Frank

[Rob]

Last year I had an amish friend grow a hull less type called snackjack and they were a huge hit with my family. Ten pumpkins gave me a good size colander of seeds.We boiled them in saltwater and then baked till they were puffy.I actually had to hide some or they would have dissapeared in a couple of days.Happy new years guys.