We harvest hundreds of winter squash every year. These squash are nutritious and delicious, good for eating within a couple of weeks or for storing for months. You can roast them, stuff them, puree them, grate them into cakes, and much more. Even the seeds are tasty and they are high in protein and healthy oils. Find out more about this splendid autumn crop.
Don’t squash the plants
We plant each winter squash seedling several metres apart. At the time, it seems incredible that the small plant will need so much space.
But over the growing months, it sprawls across the gaps and the squash start to be visible through the tangle of leaves. Before the autumn frosts hit, we call on as many hands as we can to get all the squash off the plot and safely into storage.
Kabocha, Uchi Kuri and Butternut
We grew three varieties this year. Usually, we have the superb Crown Prince (the large grey one) but the mice feasted on those. Let’s have a look at the ones that we do have:
This gloriously coloured one is the Uchi Kuri or Red Onion squash, also known as orange hokkaido. Kuri translates to “chestnut” in Japanese, which indicates the flavour of its golden flesh. It has tender skin that becomes soft on cooking.
The Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin in the USA) has this deep green skin and bright orange flesh. It’s sweeter than butternut and it keeps its shape when cooked which makes it ideal for roasting, steaming or frying.
The butternut is the most recognisable of the three with its distinctive teardrop shape and pale colour. Botanically, the butternut squash is a fruit, specifically a berry.
A peduncle is not a handle
Tempting though it is to see the stalk of a squash as a handy carrying handle … don’t. The stalk – called the peduncle – seals the squash and helps to extend its shelf-life. If you snap off the peduncle, your squash won’t store as well. So, when you carry a squash, cradle it like a baby, support it underneath … any way that works for you. Except carrying it by the peduncle.
Curing the squash
Squash are best a few weeks after they’ve been harvested. Giving them time concentrates their natural sugars and enhances their flavour. Set them in a warm place, such as a sunny window sill, and rotate them periodically. Then store them in a cool, dark, dry place (one Expert Grower uses space under a bed) and they’ll be good through to late Spring.
What do you see?
Try this exercise in mindful creativity. Look at the stalk of a squash. Look at its shape. How does it curve and branch? What does it make you think of? A dancer? A wind turbine? A praying mantis? A molecule? Just let your imagination wander for a little while. What comes to your mind?
Do you grow (or enjoy eating) winter squash? Let us know which varieties you’ve grown, your tips, and recipes.