Fruit from squash/squash cross-pollination

Q: My neighbor planted yellow squash and had three mystery squash come up also. They have completely different fruit! I haven’t attempted to cut one. Do know what kind it is?

A: My bet is that your neighbor scattered compost from last year on the garden this spring. The compost contained seeds from last year’s wintersquash. Although the squash tasted fine last year, the seed inside were pollinated by a nearby gourd. Those seeds went in the compost. When these seed emerged in the garden this year, you see the result.

There’s no harm in tasting the new fruit but I’ll bet it won’t be as great as a normal yellow squash.