We are close to declaring squashes our favourite of all the ingredients we write about. Maybe it’s the sheer variety of them in all their amazing ornamental shapes, sizes and colours. Maybe it’s their versatility for cooking savoury and sweet dishes with.
We also love that they all grow on plants from the Curcurbitacea family, and so are related to courgettes, cucumbers, melons and LOOFAHS (we don’t recommend eating these)!!!
Originally native to Central and North America, many varieties have since been bred to weather colder climes.
Their seasons vary according to type.
Here’s a quick guide:
"Summer squashes", including courgettes and patty pans (which are beautiful) are immature squashes with very thin skins, available from July, and are for eating straight away, not storing.
"Winter squashes" like spaghetti squashes, pumpkins and the trusty butternut have really tough skins and if stored correctly will last for up to a year. You can expect to see them from September onwards.
Squash Recipes:
For a selection of squash recipes, follow the links above for the individual types.
And Finally….
Ancient peoples supposedly used squash-based treatments to "cure" freckles (which are also known as ‘ephelides’).
Cure them?! What’s wrong with freckles, we want to know!
Categories: food, seasonal eating, vegetarian
