Kabocha, also known as Japanese pumpkin, is a versatile and delicious winter squash. The flavor is starchy and sweet, with a firm body that can handle being cooked many ways, from tempura-fried to roasted to steamed to sweet purees. The seeds are plump. The hard skin is edible. The squash experience is complete.
Once upon a time, there was just one kind of kabocha squash. It was dark green, medium-sized, and roundish. Nowadays there are myriad varieties of kabocha, including the bright orange sunshine, the striped green Cha-Cha, the ruddy Black Forest, and my favorite, the pale gray Winter Sweet.
