Every year there seems to be at least one mystery plant in the vegetable garden.

Every year I try to figure out what it is.

I mull. I ponder. I sometimes even haul out seed packets or catalogs looking for a match.

It’s a little game the garden likes to play with me.

But not this year.

No, this year, on Oct. 14 to be exact, the day before we got our first noticeable frost, I picked two pale-orange squash-type fruits. The vines were as dead as dead can be but still attached to the smooth globes.

So I followed the vine back to the root and what do you think I found?

A tag.

Small Wonder, it read.

Indeed.

I always tag the new stuff and usually the old stuff, but somehow before harvest time the tags get broken, pounded into the ground or the ink fades or runs enough to be indecipherable.

But not this time.

‘Small Wonder’ is a type of spaghetti squash and new in my garden this year. Unlike its cylindrical-shaped cousins – three varieties of which I have grown in past years – it looks like a smooth-skinned, pale-orange pumpkin.

A member of the Cucurbita pepo family, spaghetti squash has murky beginnings, although the family originated in the Mexico-Central America region an eon or several ago, making it a bit mysterious even when you do know what you’re picking.

The traditional spaghetti squash is pale yellow, almost cream-colored. It has a vining habit and produces fairly hefty fruit. My favorite variety is ‘Tivoli,’ a smaller version of the original and with a bush habit (my seed supplier doesn’t carry it anymore, which was a disappointment).

It wasn’t until 1986 that the first orange variety, called ‘Orangetti,’ was developed in Israel. That one I’ve not tried, but I have grown another orange cultivar, ‘Hasta la Pasta,’ with one of its traits being a bush habit.

The same can’t be said of ‘Small Wonder.’ Its vines are described as “vigorous.” That should translate into “rampant” because I have found a dozen squash all through the garden, some easily 12 feet away, hiding among the tomatoes on one side and past the cucumber patch and in the nasturtiums on the other.

And how they got it to turn out round is just another wonder of science.

Of the four varieties I’ve grown over the years, ‘Small Wonder’ is hands-down the most prolific from just two hills, but part of me wonders if it isn’t just because we had great rainfall all summer.

If you haven’t eaten spaghetti squash before, don’t let the name fool you. It does taste like squash, but it’s mild and nowhere close to the strength of, say, butternut squash.

Like eggplant, spaghetti squash takes on other flavors easily, which is why it is a great substitute with a tomato-based sauce.

I baked those first two I picked and seasoned them with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. It made an excellent side dish and let the flavor come through.

The other 10 squash either are getting hardened off for some short-term storage or they are doubling as little pumpkins on the back deck. While technically a summer squash, spaghetti squash can be stored longer than your typical zucchini, but not as long as many winter squash, some of which keep all winter in cool storage.

My plan is to cook most of them and scrape out the rinds – a standard dinner fork makes the best strands, I’ve found – and freeze the bulk of it into single servings. Then, when I have sauce and no spaghetti, I have a meal.

Boiling the squash is probably the quickest method, taking usually 20-30 minutes, but it can leave the strands a bit mushy. Baking takes at least twice as long, but the strands are firm and even a little crunchy, which means the frozen version should stand up well when thawed.

I found a number of recipes on the Internet that went beyond the concept of spaghetti. This one from www.seedsofknowledge.com may make it onto my table this weekend.

Of course, if I have time to cook while trying to clean up the last of the vegetable garden, it will be a small wonder.

Janine Pineo’s e-mail address is jpineo@bangordailynews.net.

Spaghetti Squash Pancakes

Serves 6-8

6 cups cooked spaghetti

squash

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

4 tbsp. butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Sour cream for garnish

(optional)

Separate the strands of the cooked squash. Add flour and cheese. Mix well using two forks.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Spoon 1/4 cup squash mixture into skillet. With fork, press to form an evenly thick cake. Repeat.

Cook cakes until bottoms are lightly browned, turn over and brown other side. Continue until all of the squash mixture is used, adding more butter as needed.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve with sour cream (optional).

Option: Use olive oil in place of butter.