How are everyones squashes doing

[beanie3]

Hi peeps - this has probably already been asked but i am just too d**n lazy to look back - i know very slack.

Storing squashes - how do you? where do you?  How long will they keep for? 

I agree with someone elses comment - that yes its certainly been a good year for the squash family.

Thanks in advance.

[tricia]

[You can eat winter squash whenever you like really but..... they will be like courgettes. For true winter squash flavour and the ability to store them,leave them on the vine till it withers,unless frost or mildew start in which case pull them then. When you gather them in they need to be cured,outside in the sun is best but if not possible do it in a warm room, once you can no longer make a mark with your fingernail in the rind they are cured. Now move them to a cool place to store..not the greenhouse it will get too cold. Store them not touching,  Hanging in tights is good. When you pick them from the vine leave a long handle on ideally with a couple of stems coming off that..but don't carry it by the handle.

When ready to store, wipe down with 10% solution of bleach and water.

The starches in the squash turn to sugar in storage which is where the sweet taste come from..]

Copied from one of Jeannine's many posts on advice as to how to store squashes! I found the post by using the search feature at the top of the page!!

Tricia

[beanie3]

thanks Tricia - and thanks for the tips on searching.

[earlypea]

Had a sneak preview of my Gem Rolet last night - cute as hell and everso tasty.  This is proper grow your own convenience food.  Pop it in a pan whole and boil it.  Wish I'd grown a lot more of them.

Thanks for the recommendation and seeds 1066 

[1066]

CELEBRATION TIME           

Really pleased you like them, what is 1 persons idea of fab can be another persons idea of yuck!
They can be a bit stringy, but are perfect for eating whole. Nice with a bit of butter, some black pepper, a pinch of sugar or some all spice (your choice  )

Only have a few so far this year, and they now sitting on the wondowsills, ready and waiting.....

1066 - "the smiley emoticon is back " 

[earlypea]

They can be a bit stringy,

Thing is 1066, I think it must be an English thing, but I rather like stringy, although they aren't particularly, just a bit of fibre. 

I suppose it's being brought up on marrow - there seem to be cultural differences. 

I was intrigued by the 'fibre' ratings in Amy Goldman's book - it's clearly how the gourmet squash grower rates a squash, and her (I think it was her book) remarks to the effect that the British should start eating their summer squashes young, not horrid and fibrous like a marrow (I prefer some of them like that). 

[1066]

I  think you might have a point there - a bit of texture and fibre eh! And of course it depends what you want the squash for - sweet pies or savoury like roasting, gnocchi or whatever!

[grawrc]

I could do with some advice here please being a novice squash grower. I have blue hubbard, uchiki kuri and potimarron fruiting merrily but I have no idea how big they might/ ought to grow, how they should look when ready for cutting or when they might be ready. All help gratefully received.

[shirlton]

Decided to make some soup with the Sunshine squash that broke off and was delighted with the inside. Just a small cavity for the seeds and lots of flesh. First time growing this variety and will certainly grow it again.
BTW the slow cook is going on as well with a casserole. Its cooking day today. Got plums to do as well.

[lottiedolly]

ooh Shirl & Tony that looks lush, how are you going to cook it??

[shirlton]

Well Believe it or not. I dont like squash on its own apart from butternut so It is being added to a lovely thick soup with other veggies and frozen in portions for 2 ready to take to the allotment for our lunch. Of course we will have to try it fresh as well.

[GrannieAnnie]

Decided to make some soup with the Sunshine squash that broke off and was delighted with the inside. Just a small cavity for the seeds and lots of flesh. First time growing this variety and will certainly grow it again.

Ditto for me. First time growing it and despite borers on some will try it again next year- it is sweeter than Butternut.
Will do a comparison taste test between Sunshine, Confection, Queensland, Crown Prince and Honeyboat sometime soon.
I'd be interested to hear everyone's winter squash taste favorites.

[lottiedolly]

Well Believe it or not. I dont like squash on its own apart from butternut so It is being added to a lovely thick soup with other veggies and frozen in portions for 2 ready to take to the allotment for our lunch. Of course we will have to try it fresh as well.

I have to say that sounds delish 

[earlypea]

I decided to bring home half of mine to hedge my bets against the weather and diseases.

The Gem Rolet and the Tromba di Albenga are definitely well cured.  My Kamo Kamo I left on the vines, the biggest look like they could come home, but the younger ones would be vine free.  My Delicata is most odd - has a very solid, cured dark green mutant squash which I can't cut without ruining the plant and has had a spurt of normal looking ones since the monsoon came.

Anyway, here's a pic of two Queensland Blues I decided to bring home, partly because of potential disease but mainly because they're growing in dank patches underneath the trellis and it's getting cold and shady there now.  There's a nice one on the trellis which gets the last drop of sunlight in the evening so that's staying put.

I'd appreciate a second opinion on whether I've bought these in much too soon.  I think the stem's corky, they sound very hollow and solid.  Unfortunately one of them has a mark on it where it was lying in the damp on it's own stem so I couldn't prop it up, but it's solid skin - just yellow looking.

If I bleach them and put them in my plaggy greenhouse do you think they'll be OK.

[shirlton]

They look lovely

[chriscross1966]

Had a look at m,ine today and most are sensible and happy, but I've got a Crown Prince about the size of        Dorset and a Boston Winter thaty  is   bigger.... getting on for spacehopper......

[botanicman]

Pretty good, actually. I have harvested some and there is still fruit developing. Hoping for the proverbial Indian summer to bring them on.
Can't talk about varieties, as someone (4 year old daughter) takes great pleasure in repositioning labels!

[1066]

earlypea - they look toptastic 
And Shirl - oooooooo 

I could do with some advice here please being a novice squash grower. I have blue hubbard, uchiki kuri and potimarron fruiting merrily but I have no idea how big they might/ ought to grow, how they should look when ready for cutting or when they might be ready. All help gratefully received.

well my uchiki kuri are minsicule, so can't really advise, and I've had to pick my Potimarron early, so lets hope for some more successful advice for you grawrc 

1066 "would love to join in the show and tell piccies emoticon"

[earlypea]

If I bleach them (my QZ Blues) and put them in my plaggy greenhouse do you think they'll be OK.

....and the answer is 'NO'    The weight of them (biggest 11 1/4 lbs) and they're not fully cured (my fault) has given them little dents where they were sitting on the shelves - I suppose, in retrospect, I should have laid them on the same side they were lying on in the field.

Anyways, I read curing at a high heat can heal marks and bruises and the flesh hasn't been cut it's just slightly dented.  

BUT.....Amy Goldman recommends doing this in her dark shed, others in sunlight.  Which is it to be?  The attic has a massive window, southern facing and extreme solar gain.  But are they on the windowsill or on the table curtains drawn?

Cheers....

BTW I've given up panicking, this isn't a crisis but I'd like to save them if I can.  Don't actually even mind if I don't get to eat these two in the end.  Got another growing.  I just love them to bits for their looks.  I made these out of a single pip and they're fabulous  

Bizarrely I don't worry one bit about my Kamo Kamo because that's not a loveable looker at all.

[GrannieAnnie]

I've also wondered about curing advice. Butternuts often lay out in the sunny fields sometimes well after the stems have dried tobacco brown and hard and leaves completely dried up- without any harm to the squash- just like pumpkins do.

 And we've begun eating some of the damaged ones that are tan-shelled but still have green stems and they seem to taste good as well though they were not cured...
so maybe it does not matter a whole lot if you aren't a picky eater or taking Brix readings of sugar content.