Kabocha

It is shaped like a squat pumpkin and has a dull-finished, deep-green skin with some celadon-to-white stripes and an intense yellow-orange color on the inside.

In many respects it is similar to buttercup squash, but without the characteristic protruding "cup" on the blossom (bottom) end.

One can slowly bake Kabocha whole and uncut in a convection oven, after which the entire squash becomes soft and edible, including the rind.

Kabocha is primarily grown in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, California, Florida, Hawaii, Southwestern Colorado, Mexico, Tasmania, Tonga, New Zealand, Chile, Jamaica, and South Africa, but is widely adapted for climates that provide a growing season of 100 days or more.

[citation needed] In Japan, kabocha is a common ingredient in vegetable tempura and is also made into soup and croquettes.

It should be fully matured first, in order to become flavorful, by first ripening the kabocha in a warm place (77 °F/25 °C) for 13 days to convert some of the starch to sugar.

Fully ripened, succulent kabocha will have reddish-yellow flesh, a hard skin, and a dry, corky stem.

[13] Archeological and genetic plant research in the 21st century suggests that the peoples of eastern North America independently domesticated squash, sunflower, marsh elder, and chenopod.

[citation needed] In China, this term is applied to many types of squashes with harder skin and beefier flesh (including pumpkins), not just kabochas.