"Butternut Squash - A Squash for all Seasons"

Butternut Squash - A Squash for all Seasons  ©1982 A.H. Grossman

In preparation for our first garden, we purchased a packet of seeds labeled "assorted Winter Squash," which gave practically no clue to its contents. We planted the garden and, after a couple of weeks, left for a one month vacation! Huge green watermelon-sized and giant orange squash on dead vines amid a veritable jungle of seven-feet born stalks greeted us on our return. At that point we decided never to be without winter squash in our garden.

It turned out that we had planted Guatemalan Blue and Golden Hubbard and though these have remained among our favorites, butternut has risen to first place on our list. Butternut squash is consistently sweeter in taste and brighter in color that other varieties we have planted, the plants are prolific, resist vine borers and haven't been attacked by anything else -- insect or animal -- in our garden. Butternut squash keep well and can be prepared in innumerable ways. We still do plant other varieties , but since the vines succumb early to vine borers -- a scourge in our area --the mature fruits cannot be stored for as long as later-maturing fruits. We have no cool place to keep them through the hottest part of the summer.

With butternut squash, later planting does not mean more later-maturing fruits. For greatest production it has proven best to plants as soon as the soil is warm and reroot the original vines. Rerooting seems to increase the quantity of fruits produced and is easily accomplished by placing a little moist soil over a vine, if it doesn't reroot itself. Her in Southern Maryland the mature squashes store all through the winter even under our less than ideal conditions -- a usually heated, damp and dry basement.

Butternut squash is an ideal crop for gardeners with lots of enthusiasm and little time, for they take little initial preparation and not much effort after that. from six hills of squash plants in a new, unfertilized garden plot we harvested 125 pounds of squash.

In our area, butternut squash usually produce mature fruits in less time than that stated on the seed packets - 95 to 100-odd days. We've grown Waltham, Hercules and Ponca (a medium-sized extra early-maturing variety). All three have heavily produced delicious squashes until hard frost. Of these varieties, all three grow easily and taste delicious. The meat is never stringy and is a beautiful bright orange color. We prefer the larger varieties, however, even though our family is small, for we'll often bake on large squash: we'll eat one-half the first day -- they are so good we don't even add butter or sweeteners -- then cut up the second half the next day to include in a tossed salad.

Rainbow Winter Salad

1/2 Butternut squash -- baked ahead and cut in cubes

5 large purple cabbage leaves sliced thinly

3 Jerusalem artichokes scrubbed and sliced (or substitute carrots)

1 cup alfalfa sprouts

2 stalks celery -- chopped

Toss vegetables together with 1/2 cup yogurt and one tablespoon lemon juice or the following secret heavenly dressing (I've been told to make this sound as good as it is).

Creamy Garlic Dressing

1/2 cup corn, safflower or sunflower oil

2 T cider vinegar

1 t garlic powder or 1 large garlic clove, pressed

1 t tamari sauce

1 t honey

6 T water

1 T dried basil or oregano

1 T liquid lecithin

dash of cayenne

Whisk together and use sparingly.

We also prepare this salad with raw instead of cooked butternut squash. Our two-year-old daughter discovered the delightful sweet melon-like taste and crunchy testure of raw butternut squash quite by accident while I was chopping one up for a stir-fry several months ago. That squash had already been in storage for four months. (The sweetness sems to increase with length of storage.) Raw squash would also be delightful with dips.

When frosts threaten in the Fall, we pick and cure our mature squashes, putting aside those that are immature or damaged in any way, to be eaten first. We wash them thoroughly and leave in a shady warm place for one week to 10 days. We then lightly coat them with vegetable oil and place them on board a few inched above our basement floor. We check them occasionally for mold or shrivelling. Though the temperature in our basement often rises well into the 60s, some of our squashes have lasted until April. And, if we still had any left, they would probably have lasted longer.

One way we prepare immature Butternut squash:

Summer Butternut Squash Stir-Fry

2 T corn or sunflower oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 inch chopped ginger root (optional

1 immature squash, sliced thin and then chopped in small pieces

2 t tamari soy sauce

1/2 Cup water

1 green pepper

2 tomatoes

First chop vegetables. Heat oil in frying pan. Saute onions, garlic and ginger until onions are transparent (over medium heat). Increase heat and add squash and pepper, stirring vigorously until all pieces are hot. Add soy sauce and water, cover and lower heat, allowing vegetables to simmer a minute or two. Add chopped tomatoes. Serve when squash is just tender.

Though when preparing any winter squash we used to discard the seeds and the pulp surrounding them, we never do this anymore. Winter squash seeds contain calcium, phosphorous, iron, vitamin A -- and besides, they taste good!

To bake a mature butternut, we merely slice it lengthwise and place the halves face-down on a cookie sheet or in a casserole dish and bake at 450° F for about 20 minutes, depending on the size of the squash. Test with fork until it reaches your favorite consistency. We either eat the seeds and pulp along with the baked squash or remove them to be added to soups and stir-fries. Even the skin of the butternut squash is edible, though in salads I usually remove it for purely aesthetic reasons.

We've found butternut squash to be delightful, virtually irreplaceable addition to our winter diet. It is delicious stuffed, pureed, baked, fried or boiled, in soups or salads, casseroles, pies or breads. Easy to grow and an especially good keeper, the butternut is truly a squash for all seasons.