May 29, 2010
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A Squash Lesson for Donna
There are many, many varieties of winter squash, or hard squash as some people call them. They are a great addition to any meal in the winter time and I personally like them alone as a meal. An acorn squash baked with brown sugar, salt, pepper and butter is one of my favorite breakfasts.
This variety is called a turban squash.
This is a green hubbard. Each individual squash can get up to 5-7 lbs each. When we grow these or buy them on the farm stand we like to cut them up, bake them then peel them, mash them and can the flesh. There is nothing like mashed hubbard squash instead of potatoes at a meal.
This is vegetable spaghetti. Low calorie, no fat alternative to spaghetti. Great for those of us who cannot have wheat.
These are buttercup. These are my second favorite to acorn. The flesh is denser than the acorn and has a nuttier flavor.
Acorn is my family’s all time favorite. These I cut in half and put into a baking pan with a bit of water in the bottom. I put a pat of butter and salt and pepper in each half and bake until they are tender.
Butternut squash I can the same way that I do hubbard. They keep well in the root cellar too.
Autumn cup is just like acorn only they yield fewer but larger squash per plant.
The delicata is a new variety that has a flavor like a sweet potato.
The grey hubbards can get even larger than the blue hubbards. They store well in the root cellar too.
All the winter varieties need a frost to harden the flesh so that they will store well for the winter. The frost also helps them to ripen. Possibly that is why my dear friend in California isn’t familiar with these delicious treats.
