Strange fruit

I've been meaning to roast this winter squash for a while. But it was keeping so well , since last fall, that I just never got around to it. I guess it got tired of waiting. This is a Galeux D'eysines Squash, an old French heirloom variety known for it's excellent taste if not beauty. I don't particularly find a flesh colored squash covered in warts all that attractive, but it's what's in the inside that counts, right.

Well upon cracking it open this Sunday; it turns out the squash has not been waiting so patiently. The center is absolutely full of sprouted seeds! Who would have thought a seed could germinate and sprout inside a sealed pumpkin.  After some emergency Google-ing I discovered this is not the result of some localized radioactivity but the result of the squash being too warm while stored. This is in fact the normal way a pumpkin or squash will reseed in the wild. The seeds germinate inside the fruit to keep animals from eating them. The green shoots will eventually break through the outer shell.

Who knew pumpkins were so very clever.