Until my supplier in Paris sent me a photograph of some fine specimens on a market stall, I did not know that onion squash translates into French as potimarron. It also rejoices in the less euphonious moniker of the courge chataigne, repeating the conviction that the onion squash has a chestnut flavour.

It is a common enough linguistic trick to call something new after the thing it most resembles, as with the horseless carriage or an iron horse, but I am not convinced that the rich and slightly nutty flavour of the onion squash is particularly close to that of a chestnut.