Dry Farming Institute

North Georgia Candy Roaster squash was first cultivated and bred by the Cherokee Nation in the 19th century. The Cherokee Nation valued the variety for its long shelf life and planted the squash throughout present-day Western North Carolina, Northern Georgia, and Eastern Tennessee. In 1925, the heirloom variety was featured in an article in the Charlotte Observer, expanding cultivation to farms and households outside of the Cherokee Nation. Today North Georgia Candy Roaster squashes are still of cultural importance to the Cherokee Nation, and growers are saving the seeds in the nation’s seed bank within the natural resources department. This delicious, unique hubbard-type winter squash was a stand-out open-pollinated variety in terms of dry farmed yield and storability in a dry farmed winter squash variety trial conducted by Alex Stone and Jennifer Wetzel of the Oregon State University Horticulture Department, and is also a top-yielder in Dry Farming Collaborative variety trials.