Not grown them before. How do I tell when they are ready to pick? Oh and ideas on good ways to eat them. I have just a few from a couple of plants on my first effort at growing them.
Don't know about when they're ripe but they're really good roasted with a load of other veg (peppers,onions, tomatoes, courgettes, if you're lucky enough to have a glut!), drizzled with olive oil and whole cloves or garlic.
Goes well with chicken. You can also pop it in a risotto.
Getting hungry now. Hope of use. :)
Soozie
chop the squash and roast with red peppers for about 40 mins in a medium oven. sweat some onions and garlic. add the roasted squash and pepper and some stock (i use veggy stock cube). cook for a bit (ten or fifteen mins) on a low heat. blitz and season. yummy yummy soup. add a spoonful of yogurt or sour cream and serve. scrummy.
If you want to store them you need them to be fully mature, a thumbnail won't leave an impression if mature, If you don't want to store them they are ready when you are, you can eat them at any size, but they will not keep then so use them more like summer squash at first. They will store several months is mature so you don't need to worry about gluts with winter squash, just store them in a cool dry place and use them over time. XX Jeannine
I just wish I had some to store :(. I have three very healthy and lush plants with not a sign of a flower - male or female!
I paid £1.40 for a fairly large butternut at Somerfield, just so we could BBQ a couple of pieces with our other veg and the spare ribs last Saturday. The rest will serve 2 for another two meals, so not too bad I guess - it's when I think of last year and the row of 15 hanging in the shed that makes me sad.
Tricia
Oh Tricia, don't be sad, I will tell you something that will make you laugh, it is so funny.....not.
I planted 48 assorted squash plants and the vandals cut them all down the next week.
I replanted with almost 100 plants and the floods came.
My harvest was zilch...
LOL XX Jeannine
its so good that youcan laugh about it jeannine, it puts all our smaller loses in perspective. i planted four butternuts and not a single fruit. ah well maybe next year things will be better...i know for many of us it couldnt be much worse.
Don't write them off yet, I was disappointed with my squash plants, out of 11 plants I had 2 orange 'pumpkins'. I was disappointed.
This week I have discovered 2 butternuts, 1 sweet mama and 3 turks turban (all from 4 plants), they are only really small, about golf balls size, I just hope they have a chance to grow to something before the frosts wipe them out!
Sorry to have whinged Jeannine - I was forgetting what a terrible time you've had this year, one way and another. Let's hope we all have a super harvest in 2008.
Tricia
Tricia, my love, you didn't whinge at all you dope!!.Actually I told a fib, I have 1 pumpkin from a plant that I was keeping on the greenhouse but it got mildew.I have a tiny pumpkin about the sixe of a very small tangerine, he is lovely and is on my desk. I talk to him every day.
Hugs to you XX Jeannine
I have a tiny pumpkin about the size of a very small tangerine, he is lovely and is on my desk. I talk to him every day.
Now, that did make me laugh ;D ;D ;D.
My one and only pumpkin (Becky) is grapefruit size and weighs in at 380g. I talked to him before the vine died on him - didn't do much good though, did it?
Hugs
Tricia
In my happy ignorance I wasn't worrying about the lack of flowers on my butternut squash yet! Never mind, they are at least repressing some weeds.
My pumpkins on the other hand have two on that look like they may end up a decent size, and lots of smaller ones.
well having said there were no fruits on my four butternuts i have been down today for the first time in two weeks ( been poorly) and found half a dozen little fruits. yippee. a couple of them may even come to something if, as you say, we dont get bad weather.
My butternuts are so pathetic they aren't even flowering yet.
I feel better after reading this - I planted a pumpkin and 5 squash plants this year and so far have only 1 small pumpkin to show for it. This being my first try I thought it was something I had done, but looks like the weather is to blame again!
Monty Don was saying on Gardeners World last week that the last 2 years have been bad for people who grow veggies.
My squashes are very small, but I have a few which I hope will make it!
I have 2 really nice soup recipes for them..
1/ Spicy butternut squash soup..
1 onion
clove garlic
1 chilli
1 desert spoon madras curry paste
1 squash
1 pint chicken or veg stock
1/2 - 1 can coconut milk (depending on taste)
S & P
cook onion garlic & chilli in a pan, add curry paste & stir well. cube the squash and add. pour in the stock and cook till soft. blitz till smooth and add coconut milk, salt and pepper to taste.
2/ baked squash soup with parmesan & crispy bacon
cut the squash in half, deseed and brush with olive oil. bake in the oven for 40 mins until soft. scoop out and put in a pan with a pint of chicken or veg stock. blitz till smooth and add plenty of pepper and salt to taste. top with crispy bacon pieces crushed, ans fresh parmesan. yum!
mm love butternuts. I got one potimarron this year before the vine karked it ha ha. I haven't the heart to eat it, it is one the windowsill looking decorative.
I will dig out my recipe for boiled pumpkin fruitcake. Not too sure about the proportions but it is basically: boil up 500g dried fruit with 150g butter/marg, 3 tablespoons of golden syrup and a small cup of water and a level teas of bicarb. Boil gently for 15 mins
cool that
add a cup of boiled mashed pumpkin.
add - hmm is it 3 eggs? this is where I have doubts
add 250g selfraising flour seived with spices (cinnamon, ginger or mixed spice if you prefer)
cook in slow oven about 160 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.
it keeps wonderfully for weeks even once cut, if you cover it properly.
personally i love pumpkin steamed and mashed with butter and a dollop of cream. I believe that you can also make jam with it? but never tried.
i don't know about butternut but with Kaboucha squash they're ready when they don't seem to be increasing in size but you can leave them on for longer to ripen. Then cut them off and harden them in a sunny place. To see if they're ready for eating i knock on them and if they make a hollow wooden sound then they are ready to eat. However they last a long time even when they are ready i was still eating last years in April. Last year I had a huge harvest of 60 this year I've got 8 fruit but may only get one or two full size....if I'm lucky. I'm not holding my breath It's not been my lucky year.
i can't do much at my allotment at the moment because the chiropractor has ordered me not to do any heavy work while she's treating my spine. It's so frustrating.