(I’m crossposting this from my
Tumblr sideblog, since I literally just posted it today and then discovered this thread afterwards.)
Now is a great time of year to stock up on pumpkins and winter squash. They’re everywhere, they’re inexpensive, and did I mention that they’re absolutely beautiful? Who could ask for more?
There’s more!
Winter squash — Cinderella and pie pumpkins, kuri, delicata, butternut, buttercup, acorn, kabocha, turban — are all edible, and excellent keepers. You can store them at room temperature, and use them for pretty decorations all through the fall and winter season, choosing one or two to eat as the mood strikes.
This bounty of squash should carry myself and my husband through most of fall and winter, even eating it weekly.
Be absolutely thorough about checking your squash before you buy it for any bumps, bruises, scratches, nicks, or dings. Dirt is fine, it washes off, and sealed scratches are okay. Fresh scratches may or may not heal up and your squash may rot. If you're planning to cook it within a week, a scratch or two is probably okay, but not if you're planning to use them over the course of several months.
The easiest way to prep most winter squash (excepting the gigantic pumpkins) is to cut off the stem and the base if necessary so that the squash will sit flat, then split it in half from top to bottom. Scrape out the seeds with a large metal spoon or ice-cream scoop, and scrape out as much of the stringy goop as you can manage. Typically, at this point, I will oil the squash’s interior with olive oil (use whatever oil you like, roasted walnut or pecan oil is terrific) and sprinkle with seasonings (pie spices are great, but chipotle can be fun, as can sage or poultry seasonings), and roast at 350°F / 175°C until a paring knife will penetrate the skin and flesh easily. That’ll take about 45 minutes for most squashes.
You can roast the seeds of any winter squash as an additional snack, once you clean them up. More about that in another post.
Some notes:
Delicata: Capsule-shaped, yellow striped with green, sometimes blushed orange. It has a unique and delightful squash-sweet corn flavor. The skin is thin and can be left on. In my experience, delicata is the shortest-lasting of the bunch. Eat them first.
Kuri: Top-shaped and a gorgeous burnt-orange color. Kuri squash has a sweet, rich flavor. Again, one of the squashes that has good skin for eating.
Butternut: Columnar neck, with a bulb on the bottom, tan skin with orange flesh. One of the most accessible squashes — widely available and inexpensive, as well as delicious. Many of the so-called “pumpkin pie” canned fillings are actually made of butternut squash. It keeps very well and for a long time — four to five months — as long as you’re meticulous about choosing squash with undamaged skin. It’s also one of the easiest to peel. For dishes where you want peeled squash, choose butternut and use only the neck, and cook the bulb another time. Butternut skin tends to be tough, so you'll probably want to avoid eating it.
Buttercup: Deep green with a small, light green "cup" on the bottom. Delicious. Doesn't seem to hold as well as some of the others -- use it sooner rather than later. The skin on these is soft and fine for eating.
Acorn: Acorn-shaped, heavily ridged. Colors can range from green to orange. They do come in white, but white squash are usually pretty bland. Thin-skinned, so you can eat the whole thing comfortably. Great for soups and stews -- just clean it out and chop it into bits to throw into your soup. More of a savory squash than a sweet one. Conventional wisdom is that they're shorter keepers, but I've found that they keep very well for me, and have held them successfully for up to four months.
Kabocha: A deep-green flattened sphere. Sometimes they've got a smattering of orange. It's fine to leave the skin on these, and you've probably seen it left on in your tempura. Kabocha is more floury, less squishy when cooked, and reminds me a bit of sweet potato. Also one of the shorter keepers; try to get to it within a couple months of purchase.
Turban: Festively multi-colored in splattered white, orange, yellow, and green. Turban squash has a large "cap" on a smaller, three- or four-lobed base. It has notes of chestnut; it's not as sweet as some of the others but it's definitely distinctive. I'm also of the opinion that turban squash makes the best roasted squash seeds, even better than pumpkin. They are large and wonderfully crunchy when roasted. Turban skin tends to be tougher.
Cinderella pumpkin: Yes, those huge and heavy ribbed pumpkins are edible and quite tasty. They come in all kinds of colors. I find that the traditional peach-to-orange ones usually taste the best. Because they are so large and dense, you may want to roast them whole, then cut them open and scrape out the seeds and strings afterwards. They will take a while. They can also be quite watery, so after you roast them, you may want to drain the liquid out of them, if you're doing pies or custards or other things that want a drier texture. You can use the liquid in soups or in your oatmeal. Pumpkin skin is generally too tough to be pleasant to eat.
Pie pumpkin: Typically a lighter orange than your traditional jack o' lantern pumpkin. A pie pumpkin should be fairly small but not tiny, and heavy for its size. Any pumpkin that is light for its size is mostly cavity and not meat. Pie pumpkins are sweet for pumpkins, but I find they're generally not quite as sweet as butternut squash or kuri.
Speaking of sweet:
Not pictured here, because they are gigantic and typically sold in pieces, if you can find them at all these days, are banana squash. If you have the opportunity to purchase a piece of banana squash, treat it just like any other squash -- season it up and roast it. Banana squash is delicious.
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