Here is something I have never seen in a supermarket. The squash in this soup, a gourd really, is cucuzza. I didn't know that the seeds I bought on Etsy called Serpente di Sicilia needed to be scarified and soaked in warm water to sprout. So when they had not sprouted in my vial after a month, I threw the seeds into a box of potting mix. Just one plant came up as a volunteer alongside okra in August, but I wasn't sure what it was until it flowered in September.
I picked it when it was just starting to lose its fuzz and as 18" long with a diameter of 3" at the fat end, tapering off toward the stem.
I put a handful of garden greens in my soup in addition to the cucuzza, including its own leaves, scallion tops, and edible chrysanthemum leaves and buds.
The mums are hiding behind my melon.