The Patisson

Smaller patissons can be seen forming over the right patisson.

This odd vegetable has graced our garden for the last few years; the patisson.  It is also called the pattypan, scallop squash, granny squash, and the bonnet-de-prêtre.  A first, I didn’t know what to do with it, but I’ve found that the more I use it, the more I find uses for it.  It’s in the squash family, but don’t mistake it for a butternut or acorn.  It’s more like a zucchini, but firmer and nutty in flavor.

Besides running around the kitchen playing Pac Man with them, (Come on, they do look like the ghosts, don’t they?) I’ve stuffed them, put them on pizza, sautéed them, and put them into every dish possible.  We have both the yellow and white varieties, but I find the yellow to be more prolific and more resistant to diseases.  The plant itself can be 5 feet in diameter, so I feel rather successful as a gardener when these giant Amazon like plants quickly fill any empty space left in the garden.  I’ve found little history and background on them, expect, according to Wikipedia, the name comes from “a Provençal word for a cake made in a scalloped mould”.

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