Kubota, kabocha? Same, similar?

[souvenir]

A friend asked me to pick up a kubota (spelling?) squash at the farmer's market. He described it for me as a squat green pumpkin shape with some orangish striations on the rind. The closest thing I found was on a table that had a sign that said "winter squash". I identified acorn squash and butternut on the table along with a third variety that I thought matched my friend's description. I asked the vendor about it and he said it was kabocha. I google'd both names to try to figure out if they are the same or very similar tasting squash, but can't really find an answer. Help? Thanks in advance.

[souvenir]

Thank you all for your replies! I really like butternut squash, so it sounds as though I should start buying and trying all of these squashes.

[dfrostnh]

Please try some other squashes. I think butternut is too watery. The Kabocha squashes look a lot like buttercup but are even sweeter. Buttercup has been my husband's family favorites for years. I was trying to grow kabocha this year but they are pale greenish gray and shaped like a buttercup. We haven't tried one yet but I got a decent crop. We now microwave our squash which means even less chance of it getting too watery.

[bitsubeats]

i totally agree on your assessment that butternut is too watery. I tried to make a mash out of it the other day and it was way too stringy/watery. I'm also not that fond of the taste. It reminds me of mashed carrots.

[paulj]

In my experience butternut is one of the smoother (least stringy) squashes.

Steaming is a better way of cooking squash if you don't want it watery. Roasting is good to.

[souvenir]

Yes, roasting is my favorite way to cook butternut. The only other way I can remember cooking it was to saute for a risotto dish (specifically said saute not roast). I haven't found the results to be stringy or watery; maybe it also has to do with the age of the squash?

You all have inspired me to buy and roast a number of varieties and have a taste test! I'm thinking I can then use any leftovers to make a soup.

[bitsubeats]

i made soup out of it the other day, way too sweet ):

Maybe I'm not a big fan of squash?

I usually like to take kabocha, cube it up and simmer it in some dashi and shoyu. I am going to try out this recipe bc it inspired me to buy squash in the first place. I tried to make it the other day, but realized I didn't have parmesean cheese so I just used miso to try it out. Boy did it taste awful. Guess I needed a particular kind of squash
http://tokaidonotebook.blogspot.com/2....

[bitsubeats]

How about buttercup green? I bought that the other day, because it reminded me so much of kabocha squash.

[rockfish42]

Kabocha is actually a derivative of the same species as buttercup and hubbard squashes.

[paulj]

While I found one listing that mentioned both, I couldn't find a description of 'kubota'.

Here's a nice overview of winter squashes, but it does not include kubota.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm
Note that kabocha is a generic Japanese term for squash, apparently derived from the country Cambodia. At least two main varieties are mentioned, one with a bumpier skin, the other smoother. The word 'kubota' looks like it could be a different English rendering of the same Japanese word. But it is possible that in certain growing circles and seed catalogs, the words are used for slightly different varieties.

Here's a page with just Asian varieties of squashes
http://www.evergreenseeds.com/orientalsquash.html

http://www.worldcrops.org/crops/Kabocha.cfm
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seeds_win...

[rockfish42]

They are different squashes, kubota is very similar to butternut squash in flavor if I remember. Kabocha in general I find sweeter than butternut, but really any hard winter squash should behave very similarly in a recipe.