They Find An 800-Year-Old Pot With Seeds In It. So They Plant It Without Much Hope And It Grew

It is amazing to think about how many fruits and vegetables exist in our world today.  There are so many that it can be hard to keep track of!  What is even more incredible and mind boggling to think about is the fact that there were thousands of more types of plants that were harvested throughout history that are now extinct.

This is a shame because having older fruits that we would never have known existed could expand our flavor palettes in ways we would have never even thought possible, thus creating new dishes, customs, and recipes.

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Recently, we have been blessed with what might be one of the most exciting historical discoveries (for farmers and chefs at least) that we have seen in a while.

It all happened by some people who dug up a clay pot which held a bunch of these large sized seeds which scientists deemed to still be suitable for growing.  They also wanted to figure out how old the seeds were exactly, so they were put through a carbon dating process and were found to be almost 800 years old.

They decided to grow the seeds out under careful supervision, and were able to sprout the food that the seed belongs to, which was an ancient form of squash.  This squash is huge, weighing in at about 20 pounds and has a distinct orange tint to it.

Farmers think that this was an indigenous form of squash that the Native Americans cultivated, and it is closely related to the butternut family.

In total, there were six seeds found which were dug up in Wisconsin.  Only four of the six seeds germinated, however this was enough to get the ball rolling to grow more squashes.  The seeds are now being cultivated from this squash and are being distributed across the country in a hope to bring back indigenous foods.

Typically, the vines for this type of squash run between 20 and 25 feet long which is pretty lengthy in comparison to other vine foods.  This squash is almost like a precursor to the modern butternut squash but has a distinct look to it.  It looks more rugged, tough, and massive, though the inside tastes just like you would expect a squash to taste, and has a sweet tang to it.

This is not only exciting for people wanting to distribute and find out more about indigenous foods, but also for people who want to start growing squash in large quantity.  If you need to grow a lot of squash for something, then this would certainly be a great one to grow because of its sheer size and weight!  This is quite bigger than a butternut squash.

The squash was brought to a convention of all sorts of gourds where a farmer talked about it and what it was like including its growing and scientific facts.  If you want to hear him talk about the new squash check out the video interview below and let us know what you think of this new plant down in the comments!

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They Find An 800-Year-Old Pot With Seeds In It. So They Plant It Without Much Hope And It Grew