Kabocha soup

Kabocha is a type of winter squash, a Japanese variety of the species Cucurbita maxima. It is also called kabocha squash or Japanese pumpkin in North America. In Japan, "kabocha" may refer to either this squash, to the Western pumpkin, or indeed to other squashes. In Australia, "Japanese pumpkin" is a synonym of Kent pumpkin, a variety of winter squash (C. moschata). Many of the kabocha in the market are kuri kabocha, a type created from seiyo kabocha (buttercup squash). Varieties of kabocha include Ajihei, Ajihei No. 107, Ajihei No. 331, Ajihei No. 335, Cutie, Ebisu, Emiguri, Marron d'Or and Miyako. Kabocha is hard on the outside with knobbly-looking skin. 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.[citation needed] An average kabocha weighs two to three pounds, but a large squash can weigh as much as eight pounds.

Source: Wikipedia