Winter squash, Butternut

From mid-fall and through the end of the season, a variety of winter squash will be in your share. Unlike summer squash, these varieties have thicker skins to help them store longer, and starchy flesh that is tasty when cooked. Butternut squash in particular has smooth cream-colored skin that is easy to peel and a sweet and mild flesh.

Cooking Tips

Although different varieties of squash come in different shapes, sizes, and colors, they can be used interchangeably in many recipes. Butternut squash is a great storage variety with a firmer flesh and a mild flavor that make it really versatile. Make a hearty soup or stew, a chunky pasta sauce or ravioli dish, or even a sweet butternut squash pie. Try carefully cutting them in half, scooping out the pulp and seeds from the center, and baking face down on a sheet with an eighth of an inch of water. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Alternately, you can try steaming them face down for about 25 minutes. You can also save and wash the seeds and roast or dry them for eating (like pumpkin seeds).

Storage Tips

Winter squash should keep for several weeks in a cool and dry part of the kitchen away from direct sunlight. Store squashes that have been cut open in the refrigerator for several days.

Nutrition

Winter squash is high in starch and fiber, vitamin A, niacin, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and beta carotene.

History

Squash was first grown for its edible seeds by Native Americans 10,000 years ago. After five thousand years of cultivation the fruit became edible, and from there the many different types of squash began to emerge. The first European explorers found an immense variety of squash grown in different areas by different tribes and empires, and called it "squash" as an abbreviation of a much longer Indian name. All squash are cucurbits, in the same family as cucumbers, melons and gourds.