Cooking last fall’s huge Hubbard winter squash
Buying large winter-type squashes can be fun and economical. The Pumpkin Patch folks near me sell many varieties of hard rind winter squashes each fall and each fall I load the back of my car with several Acorn types, and Butternuts along with one or two of the bigger varieties; particularly the Hubbard, the Cushaw, Candy Roaster, or Banana. They are so beautiful and so delicious. Each kind has a unique flavor. Before I store them away I stack them on the kitchen counter to enjoy the sheer beauty of them for a day or two!
I bought this fantastically nubbly gray green 15-pound Hubbard squash for $8 in October of 2022. I kept it in my pantry (cool, dark, dry) and only this week finally opened it and cooked it.
I saved the seeds, roasted the squash, and scraped out the baked flesh to be stored in the freezer in vacuum bags. I will probably use it to make squash soup when the mood hits me.
From the 15-pound squash I got 4.5 oz (1 cup) of seed to plant or eat;
and the baked flesh came to 10 pounds worth.
That’s a lot of food for $8 bucks! The hens got all the left-over baked rind to nibble on and they liked it a lot. So, everybody is happy.
This post and the pictures are to encourage you that come the fall plan to buy and store squash for the winter.