Storing Winter Squash

A while ago Meghan asked me how to store winter squash. I kept meaning to write a post about how I do it, but I kept forgetting (sorry Meghan). It really couldn’t be simpler to keep these lovely veggies around all winter.

I’ve heard that some people store their winter squashes under a bed, others in a pile in the living room. I simply put mine on top of a dresser that acts as a sideboard in my dining room. They are lovely to look at and since they’re in plain sight, I remember to check them often to make sure none of them are going bad.

Different kinds of squash store for different lengths of time. That’s one thing I love about butternuts, they seem to last forever. If you want to learn more about the different kinds of squash, what they taste like and how long they keep check out this site.

Where do you store your winter squash? Any great tips & tricks for the rest of us?

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Nature’s Fingerprint

During the gardening season I took tons of photos because I knew in the dead of winter when everything was covered by a blanket of snow, I would enjoy looking through all my beautiful garden photos.

Since this is what I’m seeing out my window at the moment, I’ve been spending some time every day looking through all of my photos from the summer. I came across this gem the other day. The intricacy of nature is amazing, something I have noticed even more as I garden.

I noticed the pollen pattern on this zucchini blossom while I was pollinated one day. It’s like it has it’s own fingerprint. Amazing.

This is a little curly that the squash/pumpkins vines put out to grab onto stuff.

The center of an echinacea bloom, how vibrant!

An Asian Lilly loaded with pollen.

A double hollyhock blossom getting ready to burst into bloom

What intricacies do you notice in nature?

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Eating Seasonally = Winter Squash

When you’re trying to eat seasonally you start to wonder what you’re going to be eating for veggies in the winter. I do have mache and spinach still growing in the garden for greens, as well as canned green beans, beets, and zucchini pickles in the pantry. All of these are wonderful, but one of the best winter vegetables is butternut squash. They’re super easy to store, mine are just sitting on top of the side table in my dining room. They will last for up to 6 months if stored properly. Now that’s amazing, no canning, freezing or preparing, just pile in a corner and check them every week or so, could it get any easier than that?

There’s just something about roasted squash that is warm and cozy. They’re also super healthy. Butternut squash is an excellent source of magnesium, potassium, vitamins C and A, and a good source of calcium.

So how do you go about eating a butternut squash? They can be cooked in a variety of ways: baked, pureed (like mashed potatoes), in muffins, in pies, in ravioli or lasagna, and in soups. We prefer ours in soup or roasted, although butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter occasionally graces our winter table. You can also eat the seeds if you’d like. I sometimes roast them in the oven, but most of the time I save them and throw them out by the bird feeder for the birds.

Most of the butternut squashes that grew in my garden this summer were small ones, but I did have a volunteer that grow out of my compost pile that produced a 3 pound squash. I bought 6-7 at the farmer’s market along with a few pumpkins and other kinds of squash.

Here’s my favorite Butternut Squash recipe.

Butternut Squash and Chipotle Soup
from Fresh & Light (Williams-Sonoma)

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, 2.5 lbs
1 tablespoon of butter
2 slices of coarse country bread, each about 1/2 inch thick cut into 1/2 inch cubes (for croutons)
1 teaspoon of dried sage
1/2 yellow onion chopped
2 small chipotle peppers (I’d start with 1 without seeds and then taste) I use canned ones
3 1/2 cups of chicken broth
salt to taste
fresh sage leaves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Using spoon, scrape out the seeds and any fibers and discard. Place the squash halves, cut side down, on a baking sheet and bake until just tender, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven. When cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a bowl.

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, warm the butter. Add the bread and dried sage and saute, stirring often, until the bread cubes are browned on all side, about 4 minutes. Using a spoon, transfer croutons to a plate and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the squash chiles, and broth. Simmer over medium heat and cook, uncovered, until the squash is very soft, about 30 minutes.

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth (or with immersion blender), be very carefully blending hot soup as it has a tendency to explode the top off the blender. It’s best to start with bursts of power then to full blend. Its also wise to keep a kitchen towel draped over the blender. I have found an immersion blender to be indispensable since we make many pureed soups.

Return soup to the pan and reheat gently. If desired add some whole milk and butter. Taste and add salt and freshly ground pepper as needed. Ladle into warmed bowls. Divide the croutons among the servings and garnish with sage leaves. Serve hot.

What’s you’re favorite way to eat butternut squash?

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Harvest Time

This is a photo of a few of the pumpkins & squashes that I harvested out of the garden earlier this fall. I thought it was interesting how the sunlight was hitting them one evening.

For some reason all these squashes were fairly small. The ones I harvested a few weeks later were huge (of course they were growing out of my compost pile).

Can’t wait to eat these, hmm what will it be? Butternut squash soup, roasted butternuts, pumpkin pie or bread? Any suggestions or great recipes out there?

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Pollinating Squash

A couple weeks ago I notided that some of the small pumpkins and zucchini were shriveling up on the vine and falling off. I thought it was from all the rain we were having, then I was reading and realized it was due to poor pollination. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and started pollinating the squash myself. Here’s what I learned.

This is what happens when you have poor pollination.

Squash plants has 2 different kinds of blossoms: male and female. The male blossoms produce the pollen and the female blossoms produce the fruit. Usually several male blossoms are produced for every female blossom. How do you tell the difference between a male and a female blossom? There are 2 ways to do it.

First the male blossom is usually on a long straight stem as you can see here.

They also have a single stamen on the inside with pollen on it, as you can see here.

The female blossoms are close the main vine attached to what appear to be small fruits (this is a butternut squash as you can tell by the shape).

The female blossom as a multi-stemmed stigma on the inside as you can see here.

So how to you pollinate your own squash? First you check to make sure the male blossom is mature and producing pollen. A little pollen will come off on your finger when you touch the stamen.

Pick a mature male blossom and peel back the flower petals.

Now all you have to do is rub the male stamen on the all parts of the female stigma and you’re finished. This is what your squash will look like if they’re properly pollinated. This zucchini blossom fell off the next day and the zucchini will be eaten today for lunch.

Make sure you check your plants every day for mature female blossoms. They wilt quickly!

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