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Step 1
First some facts: Winter squash are those that are meant to be stored: Butternut, (Shown above) Buttercup, Acorn and Hubbard to name a few. They are chock full of Vitamin A (especially the first 2, with their vibrant orange 'meat' :)and truly delicious as a side dish, stuffed in ravioli, or the base of a wonderful soup.
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Step 2
Timing is important. We live in the north and frost comes early. Most of the time the squash fruits can handle a light first frost as the leaves help protect them once. But harvest before a second frost as the vines will be shriveled and offer little or no protection.
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Step 3
Don't break the fruits off the vine- cut them with something like a pruning knife. Leave a nice long stem, at least 3 inches, which actually continues to 'feed' the fruit for a time (even butternut squash that is not fully ripe and has green lines on it, will ripen in a couple of weeks if you leave a long stem on it). This method also helps the fruit 'cure' or dry out a bit.
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Step 4
Store in a Cool/Dry place.Store the fruit in a sunny dry place for a few days if at all possible to help cure it. Then find a spot about 50 degrees to store them long term, although we've had ours warmer than that and they did fine. A cool but dry basement works well, but an unheated damp one does NOT.
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Step 5
With luck, you may have some squash still in good shape by spring~Put the squash on shelving one layer thick for good air circulation.
With these steps you should be enjoying scrumptious squash recipes for your winter holiday meals! (I've actually had some last until April! But most of them need to be used by January.)
Comments
steph9280 said
on 10/28/2009 Great information on how to store squash for winter! 5*