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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: ACE on October 04, 2021, 08:16:34
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I have a million and one different winter squashes to harvest now the stalks have dried, pumpkins, mashed potato squash table queen, spagetti squash, butternuts and a load I do not know the names to. Never really grew them before apart from pumpkins and butternuts. Don't really have the room to store them conventionally, but I need them to last the winter out as they have taken the place of the usual starchy staples. Butternuts I can store on the larder racks, the pumpkins are slowly being dehydrated to make a type of flour. I did try and dehydrate a turks head to see if it would reconstitute when cooked, complete disaster, but the dogs liked it. Has anybody tried to freeze them in slices or preserve them any other way?
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You can freeze them in chunks - they do go rather gloppy when thawed, so cut them into the sort of size you'd put in a dish, and whang 'em in as they are and cook until it's all warmed back up again.
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I have frozen Crown Prince squash in roast potato sized chunks very successfully. They were just as good, taste and texture as when they were fresh.
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We keep ours whole in a cool unused garage, and keep an eye on them, when any shows signs of rots we either, use them their and then, or process into soup and freeze. If we get a lot at want we also chunk them and freeze them, usually in specific weights for some of our popular recipes.
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Most of my squash is shredded raw into coleslaw, but some squash are too big - just 2 generous helpings a day for more than a few days means we're risking rot setting in - but shredded quarters and odds & ends are perfect for building a big kimchee jar - as long as they aren't rotting when they go in, then the pickling process will stop all that.
I wouldn't put in more than 25% squash in a normal mix, but you can bend the rules by using all the more pungent ingredients to make the pickle, but with 1/2 or even 1/4 the normal amount of chinese cabbage. Then you can use that very long-lasting concentrate to make quick batches whenever you need them by adding the missing chinese cabbage (which seems to be readily available almost all year round - & in high season right now).
Cheers.
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We don't grow many so end up with just a couple of dozen fruits to store long term. I start by picking them and leaving them to ripen in the sun on a wooden pallet. Come mid October they get moved to the front steps - south facing - for an autumn display and then by end of November the ones we haven't already eaten get moved to open shelving in a shed.
We rarely eat potatoes and no longer find the need for a starchy veg with meals. I buy sweet potatoes for roasting and mashing and we like pumpkin for soups, curries, tagines and so on. We do eat wholemeal pasta and brown rice but not at every meal.
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Helpful post. Have tried Butternut squash this year and was pleased with the yield when I harvested a couple of days ago o o but I. don’t really know how best to store.
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I treat butternuts in much the same way as squash. I find they don't keep as long as the squash do, but it's still a couple of months or so. Though if I have more than a few, I get required to give them away!
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I keep mine in my cellar it’s perfect I had it tanked out and made into another room but never got round to putting a radiator in it’s dry and maintains a temperature of 50 to 60 . I’ve picked all my butternuts and sweet dumplings and pumpkins as soon as they have cured and finished ripening I’ll store them in baskets in there. I’ve still got a butternut squash to use from last year and it’s still in pristine condition. My garlic and potatoes keep well too so the temperature and humidity and darkness have a big part to play in storing your crop. Good luck.
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So there you are, Ace. Your next project is to dig a cellar.
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How good to have a cellar, especially one like owtfornowt has made theirs into.
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I want a cellar like that.....
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