Yellow Giant Pumpkin

Yellow Giant Pumpkin Seeds

(Jaune Gros de Paris — French Heirloom Giant Culinary Pumpkin)

The Gros de Paris yellow pumpkin is a Cucurbita maxima variety that produces fairly flattened, spherical fruits 25 to 70 cm in diameter. Their yellow to salmon-colored skin is cracked or embroidered when ripe. Their yellow-orange flesh is thick, tender, and sweet, and keeps for a long time.

Jaune Gros de Paris is a magnificent French heirloom with pastel yellow-pink skin and creamy, deep orange flesh. These delectable pumpkins weigh 25 to 100 pounds and are superb when roasted, puréed, baked in pies, and simmered into preserves.
Jaune Gros de Paris is a French treasure that can grow to 100 pounds or more. This pumpkin’s origins are rooted in France’s history as one of their national heirlooms. Yellow of Paris derives its name from its pink-golden color.

This pumpkin is not deeply ribbed like traditional US varieties. The exterior is smooth, but when left to fully ripen can develop a subtle net pattern that adds plenty of character. This pumpkin is round, somewhat flat, and an attractive variety for the yard and garden. These pumpkins are delicious and best featured in pies, soups, baked dishes, or used in desserts.

Yellow Paris Pumpkin is a vigorous and popular French heirloom variety producing large, round, slightly flattened yellow fruits with thick, sweet, tender flesh. The average yield is 1 to 4 fruits per vine weighing 15 to 50 kg each. Excellent for long-term storage.
Jaune Gros de Paris is connected to the ancestry of competitive giant pumpkins — historical sources link it as an ancestor of the Atlantic Giant lineage through the French giant pumpkin tradition that dates back to the 1800s.

However, while the Atlantic Giant has been selectively bred for maximum size at the expense of eating quality, Jaune Gros de Paris has been maintained as a culinary variety where flavor, flesh quality, and storage are the primary goals. The result is a large, beautiful, genuinely delicious pumpkin that brings both spectacle and substance to the garden and the kitchen.

In Kuwait’s warm growing seasons, Yellow Giant Pumpkin Jaune Gros de Paris performs across two productive windows — the warm autumn from September onward and the warm spring from February through March. The relatively warm nights of the Gulf can slightly reduce maximum fruit size compared to temperate European growing conditions, but excellent fruits of 10 to 25 kg are reliably achievable for home gardeners with proper soil preparation, feeding, and watering.

Variety Details

• Jaune Gros de Paris is a runner variety with plants 5 to 6 meters long.
• This squash produces spherical, flattened, ribbed fruits, 25 to 70 cm in diameter.
• Their salmon-yellow skin encloses thick, tender, yellow-orange flesh with an excellent sweet taste.
• This pumpkin is delicious in soups, gratins, soufflés, and jams.
• Days to maturity: 100 to 110 days from sowing.
• The skin develops subtle crackling patterns and a rich golden-salmon color at full maturity, adding considerable character to the already impressive fruit.

Key Features

• Magnificent French heirloom — one of France’s celebrated national vegetables.
• Golden-yellow to salmon-pink skin with smooth rounded profile.
• Large flattened round form — 15 to 50 kg per fruit.
• Thick, sweet, tender yellow-orange flesh — excellent eating quality.
• 1 to 4 fruits per vine.
• Superb for soups, gratins, pies, purées, and preserves.
• Excellent long-term storage — keeps several months after harvest.
• Edible flowers and seeds.
• Seeds outstanding when roasted and salted.
• Heavy feeder — requires rich soil and consistent watering.
• Vines to 5 to 6 meters — requires substantial growing space.

Plant Information

• Family: Cucurbitaceae.
• Botanical name: Cucurbita maxima.
• Cultivar: Jaune Gros de Paris (Yellow Giant / Yellow of Paris). Also known as: Big Yellow of Paris, Yellow Giant Pumpkin, Gros Jaune de Paris.
• Type: Annual warm-season vine pumpkin — heirloom culinary type.
• Days to maturity: 100 to 110 days from sowing.
• Vine length: 5 to 6 meters.
• Fruit: Large, round, slightly flattened, 25 to 70 cm diameter; golden-yellow to salmon-pink skin, lightly ribbed, develops a subtle net pattern at full maturity.
• Flesh: Thick, yellow-orange, sweet, tender.
• Exposure: Full sun. Water: High — consistent deep watering throughout.
• Soil: Very fertile, humus-rich, well-drained.
• pH preference: 6.0 to 7.0.
• Spacing: 1.5 to 2.5 meters between plants.

Seed Germination

• Soil temperature must be at least 18 to 20 degrees Celsius before sowing — pumpkin seeds rot in cold or wet soil.
• Sow one seed per 9 to 10 cm biodegradable pot, placed on its side (edgewise) to prevent water pooling on the seed surface, 2 cm deep, in moist rich seed-starting compost.
• Place in a warm, sunny location at 22 to 28 degrees Celsius.
• Keep consistently moist but not waterlogged.
• Germination typically occurs within 5 to 14 days.
• Transplant to final position when seedlings have 2 to 3 true leaves and roots begin filling the pot.
• Handle seedlings carefully — minimal root disturbance produces the strongest plants.
• Prepare the planting hole generously before transplanting: dig a hole approximately 60 cm wide and deep and fill with a 50:50 mix of rich compost and garden soil.
• Near the pumpkins and squash, sowing corn and beans is recommended, giving rise to the Three Sisters companion planting method.

Growing Tips

• Although Gros de Paris yellow pumpkins can be harvested and eaten immaturely, those destined for winter storage should be picked as late as possible, before the first frosts, when the stalk begins to dry out and the skin becomes thick.
• Be careful not to pull them off — cut as close as possible to the stem, 10 cm above the stalk.
• This variety can be stored for several months in a dry, well-ventilated place at a temperature of between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius.
• Space plants 1.5 to 2.5 meters apart.
• Prepare soil generously with well-rotted compost or manure.
• Water consistently at the base — never overhead.
• Apply a balanced vegetable fertilizer every 2 weeks throughout the growing season, switching to a lower nitrogen, higher potassium and phosphorus formula once vines begin running and flowers appear.
• Mulch heavily around the base to retain moisture and regulate soil temperature. Allow 1 to 4 fruits to develop per vine — fewer fruits per vine means larger individual specimens.
• Hand-pollinate flowers when natural pollinator activity is limited. Place straw or a flat board under developing fruits to prevent soil contact and rot.

Gulf Planting Season

• First window — Warm autumn growing: Sow indoors in biodegradable pots: mid-August through September.
• Transplant outdoors: September through October. Expected harvest: January through February.
• Second window — Spring growing: Sow indoors: late January through February. Transplant outdoors: February through March. Expected harvest: June through July.
• Note: Gulf conditions are well-suited to Yellow Giant pumpkin production in both seasonal windows. The autumn window is recommended as primary — Kuwait’s long warm autumn allows excellent vine and fruit development through October and November before cooler December and January temperatures slow the final maturation and skin hardening. Expect fruit size of 10 to 25 kg in Gulf conditions — excellent for home use and display.

Culinary Uses

• In the kitchen, yellow pumpkins are delicious in winter soups, soufflés, gratins, and jams.
• Pumpkin flowers are also edible.
• These delectable pumpkins are superb when roasted, puréed, baked in pies, and simmered into preserves.
• Unlike the stringy, watery flesh of competition giant pumpkins, Jaune Gros de Paris produces genuinely excellent culinary pumpkin flesh — thick, smooth, sweet, and deeply flavored.
• Place the pumpkins spaced apart on shelving. They can also be frozen, after slicing and cooking, to keep for up to a year.
• In the Gulf kitchen it is ideal for maklouba and pumpkin rice dishes, creamy pumpkin soup, roasted pumpkin wedges with herbs and olive oil, pumpkin purée for baking, and traditional Gulf sweets that call for sweet pumpkin flesh. The seeds — cleaned, dried, salted, and roasted — are a nutritious and delicious snack.
• One fruit of 10 to 20 kg provides enough flesh to supply the kitchen for weeks.