Description

The dessert of winter squashes. Cucurbita pepo ‘Sweet Dumpling’ forms petite, 4-inch fruits with creamy ivory skin streaked in deep green, their ridged shells wrapping around golden-orange flesh that’s smooth, sweet, and nutty. The flavor is reminiscent of chestnut and maple, deepening in storage as the sugars concentrate. Despite its size, each squash is a meal in miniature—perfect for roasting whole, stuffing, or baking into halves that caramelize beautifully.

Bush-type plants reach just 3–4 feet across, ideal for smaller gardens or containers. Highly productive and early for a winter squash, ‘Sweet Dumpling’ yields an abundant harvest of uniform fruits that cure well for long keeping.

Introduced by Cornell University in the 1970s, it descends from older Japanese squash lines and quickly earned its place among the sweetest of the heirlooms. A delightful combination of flavor, practicality, and charm—proof that the finest things in the garden often come in small packages.