# Terrible yellow (summer) squash experience last night!



## BeachChick (Mar 8, 2010)

While making dinner last night, I was looking for a vegetable that I could cook fast.  I had two beautiful yellow (summer) squash in the refrigerator that I had purchased on Wednesday.  I decided to chop them up quickly and cook them in the microwave (something I do often when in a hurry).  I put the chopped up pieces in a bowl with a little bit of water and before I covered it, I ate a piece (I was starving)! It was HORRIBLE.  I leaned over the sink and spit it out.  I was rinsing my mouth with water and practically gagging.  (My husband found this pretty amusing.)  I ran into the bathroom and tried some Listerine...I HAD to get rid of the awful taste on my tongue.  It had coated my tongue and I couldn't get rid of it.  I don't even know how to describe it.  It was bitter, horrible, bad.  No odor, but awful taste.  My tongue was just coated with this horrible taste.  I tried scrubbing it with toothpaste and a toothbrush and it help a little, but the taste was still there.  Finally, I drank some red wine (lol - right out of the bottle).  That finally killed the taste.  (Wine cures all.)  

Really though, what an awful experience.  I am SO thankful that I didn't feed that to my children (toddlers).

Has anybody ever experienced anything like this before?  I'm not even sure what caused it.  It looked and smelled fine.  SO strange.  Sometimes after yellow squash sits for a while, it gets brownish spots on it (which I would normally just cut off).  But these were beautiful.  I was thinking about how nice, bright and yellow they were while I was cutting them.

(You guys must have a great imagine of me, with my burnt bundt cake, hanging over the sink, spitting out food and drinking wine out of a bottle! lol)


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## cara (Mar 8, 2010)

It seems your squash came in contact with some deco-squash (? You know what I mean??)

My Mum had these two in her garden, too and it ended up with the "right" squash tasting simply awful...


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## BeachChick (Mar 8, 2010)

cara said:


> It seems your squash came in contact with some deco-squash (? You know what I mean??)


 
No? Sorry! (Should I know what this means?!)   

It was the most horrible thing I've ever tasted.


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## cara (Mar 8, 2010)

I don't know the english word - translator didn't help me....

there are some sorts of squash just for decoration, not for eating..
and if squash for eating is grown near deco-squash there is a chance, that the pollen of the one gets into the flower of the other and their genetic information will be mixed..
this can result in the bad taste of the deco squash getting into the other.... *sigh*


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## Saphellae (Mar 8, 2010)

I think what Cara means by deco squash is a squash for decorating.. ones that you can hollow out and make things with, or for thanksgiving decoration.. etc.


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## froggythefrog (Mar 8, 2010)

Gourds.... They don't look like yellow crookneck squash usually, though.


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## BeachChick (Mar 9, 2010)

I think I'd rather eat a gourd than that yellow squash.  I just cannot believe how awful it was.  

I'm glad to see that nobody has posted that the same thing happened to them.  It was really awful.


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## cara (Mar 9, 2010)

I had this once, with the above mentioned...

you can be lucky, you tasted before, I found out that I could throw away the whole meal....

some pics of the deco stuff you find here: Hof Cordes - Zierkürbis


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## bigdaddy3k (Mar 9, 2010)

*Bischifsmütze - Red Turban*, 20 - 35 cm, Zierkürbis, essbar

Also known as "sultan's hat" is actually very tasty.


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## Uncle Bob (Mar 9, 2010)

I would say you had a "bad squash" day...as in a "bad hair" day. I have grown yellow crook neck/ yellow straight neck squash for many years for fresh consumption as well as for the freezer never having experienced the taste problem you describe. My GUESS is you had a "green" (bitter) squash even though the outside was a beautiful yellow...This happens occasionally (not sure why) with the inside actually have a green appearance and/or an immature/under developed look to it...We usually spot these and just toss them...Another GUESS..It may have been be an outside contamination...where and what from would be anybody's guess. ~~~  IMO cross pollination from  commercially grown vs. home grown product would be unlikely...but not impossible! HTH

Enjoy
!


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## cara (Mar 10, 2010)

bigdaddy3k said:


> *Bischifsmütze - Red Turban*, 20 - 35 cm, Zierkürbis, essbar
> 
> Also known as "sultan's hat" is actually very tasty.



yeah, the "essbar" means you can it that one ;o)


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## bigdaddy3k (Mar 10, 2010)

I can't read German, I can understand most of it when spoken due to trying to understand the "secrets" my mother would share with my grandfather while growing up.


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## eerae (Jul 22, 2012)

Not sure if this was is the same thing or not.  We just cooked yellow squash, sauteed on the stove with olive oil and some italian herbs like we usually do.  My wife asked what the sour ingredient was that I added.  I said it was the same I always add.  Then I tried a piece and it was disgusting--gooey and sour.  I spit it out, but the taste was still lingering.  Since it had a sour taste and a weird, gooey texture on the inside I thought it must have spoiled, though I thought it was odd as they were less than a week old from our local CSA farmers, and they looked fine on the outside and inside when I sliced them.  However I do remember while cooking them that some of insides of the slices kind of sunk in and melted away, where I was almost left with a ring of the more firm outer flesh.  Very weird.  Anyone else notice this before?  We were thankful we tried it before our two little kids did, and were dreading some sort of food poisoning, but maybe it was just a squash that didn't grow right?


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## CWS4322 (Jul 23, 2012)

eerae said:


> Not sure if this was is the same thing or not.  We just cooked yellow squash, sauteed on the stove with olive oil and some italian herbs like we usually do.  My wife asked what the sour ingredient was that I added.  I said it was the same I always add.  Then I tried a piece and it was disgusting--gooey and sour.  I spit it out, but the taste was still lingering.  Since it had a sour taste and a weird, gooey texture on the inside I thought it must have spoiled, though I thought it was odd as they were less than a week old from our local CSA farmers, and they looked fine on the outside and inside when I sliced them.  However I do remember while cooking them that some of insides of the slices kind of sunk in and melted away, where I was almost left with a ring of the more firm outer flesh.  Very weird.  Anyone else notice this before?  We were thankful we tried it before our two little kids did, and were dreading some sort of food poisoning, but maybe it was just a squash that didn't grow right?


I hope you contacted your CSA farmer. A friend is a CSA farmer and she would be devastated to hear that one of her veggies was not up to snuff. Also, your CSA farmer might know why (cross-pollination) or maybe all the squash are like that and the CSA farmer will want to go back to the seed company.


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## Dawgluver (Jul 23, 2012)

CWS4322 said:
			
		

> I hope you contacted your CSA farmer. A friend is a CSA farmer and she would be devastated to hear that one of her veggies was not up to snuff. Also, your CSA farmer might know why (cross-pollination) or maybe all the squash are like that and the CSA farmer will want to go back to the seed company.



+1

Sounds like you got some bad squash, probably not a health hazard, just nasty tasting.


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## Zhizara (Jul 23, 2012)

I hope that doesn't happen to me when the mini pumpkins are out for sale.  I've baked a whole one and it was wonderful, so I'm planning to do it again.


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## BeachChick (Jul 23, 2012)

*My post is still alive!*

I received an email link to this post today because I was the original poster of this squash story, yet I had forgotten all about it.  I saw the title of the link and thought, "I wonder what could happen with yellow squash?  Why am I receiving this?  I'd better read it because I have some yellow squash to cook this week."

Then I read the post and realized it was a reply to my original!!  Thanks for bringing back those horrible memories!!  I had forgotten all about that.   It really was quite gross. 

I remember that the squash looked perfect both inside and outside.  There was absolutely NO indication that something could be wrong.  Weird.


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