Areni Giant Marbled Squash

What a find this was! Our plant explorer, Joseph Simcox, recounts the story how he got this squash; "In the Armenian village of Areni an old farmer had this squash sitting out in front of his stand. When we started negotiations to buy it his price was two to three times that of other squash we had purchased in the area. At first I just thought he was just trying to take advantage of us tourists. We walked away feigning disinterest, had lunch, drove away and then drove back offering him our last price, Finally somewhere between too high and too low we agreed on a price. Later back at the hotel in our makeshift seed collecting shed we discovered why the old man was so staunch on his price. This was one of the most amazing squash varieties that we had collected in Armenia: very thick flesh, very dark orange and, according to our Armenian taste panel, sweet and perfect! We are very proud of this discovery!"