Plume Squash

Plume Squash is a crop food produced by Plume Squash Plants. A domesticated plant harvests 4000 kcal every 9 cycles, which works out to 444 kcal per cycle; wild plants produce only 111 kcal per cycle. It is a straightforward calorie source, but its main appeal is not raw food quality, since Plume Squash has Food Quality 0 and is considered Terrible when eaten directly.

Plume Squash is notable for being one of the most calorie-dense foods that can be produced with full automation, without requiring any Duplicant labor. This makes it especially useful for low-intervention food systems and for setups aimed at Experiment 52B. Because it can be generated continuously from a farm and handled automatically, it fits well into bases that prioritize minimal manual work over high-quality meals.

Plume Squash can be consumed directly by Duplicants for calories, but it also has several important processing and ranching uses:

• 4000 kcal of Plume Squash plus 1000 g of Tallow can be cooked in the Deep Fryer into 5400 kcal of Squash Fries.
• This conversion increases the food’s calorie total by 1400 kcal and raises Food Quality by 3.
• Plume Squash can also be eaten by Critters.
• Hatches consume Plume Squash at 700 kcal per cycle and convert it into 131.3 g of Coal per cycle.
• Sage Hatches consume Plume Squash at 700 kcal per cycle and convert it into 175 g of Coal per cycle.
• Bammoths consume Plume Squash at 1778 kcal per cycle and convert it into 30 kg of Bammoth Patty per cycle.

Because of these ranching interactions, Plume Squash is useful not only as a food crop but also as a ranch input for coal production and Bammoth feeding. In ranching setups, its value comes from how efficiently it can be turned into other resources rather than from its direct meal quality. When used for Duplicant food, it is usually best reserved for recipes like Squash Fries, since direct consumption offers no morale benefit.

Plume Squash is referred to as "Carrot" in the game code.