How to choose and cook pumpkins, squash, butternut & co?

How to choose squash?

The only precautions to take for all fall and winter squashes: the largest ones must be firm and heavy with rather matte skin, without spots or traces of impacts. Avoid overripe squash which are more fibrous and remove their skin (with the exception of pumpkin). Once cooked, especially pureed, they freeze very well.

The main squashes

Pumpkin : Popular for its chestnut taste, its thin skin softens when cooked.
Pumpkin : the edible cousin of the pumpkin. Given its size, it is often sold in portions and is cooked in a steamed oven. Excellent in velouté, gratin, roasted in the oven with a little honey and in pumpkin pie.
Giraumont : Its variegated skin on the outside hides a firm and sweet flesh which becomes tender when cooked.
Butternut : Also called butternut squash, with its funny club-like appearance, we love it for its nutty taste and its fine flesh.
Berry Sucrine : Small in size (around 2 kg) pear-shaped with a sweet taste and soft texture.

But also… Spaghetti squash, festival squash, potato squash

It’s when the dead leaves are collected by the shovel let them point their heads at the markets.

After a first, rather frightening, appearance on Halloween night, they will keep the spotlight all winter long. They are pumpkin cousins. Those that we place, without any malice, in the squash family: pumpkins, giraumonts, pumpkins and other muskys from Provence, all members of the famous Cucurbitaceae clan.

Originating from various parts of the globe, with the exception of pumpkin which comes from Central America, squash have always seduced men thanks to their adaptability. When they are not edible, they are immediately transformed into containers and kitchen utensils. This is also what ensured their success when they arrived on the Old Continent in the 16th century. Even today, it is not uncommon to see the husk of the pumpkin used as tureen.

A reassuring good nature

From autumn, the season of their harvest, the squashes have kept their flamboyant colors. No matter how much we dig into the heads of the biggest ones, empty them of their flesh, draw a grimacing mask on them, nothing works! Their curves, their dapper colors, their good nature reassures us, comforts us, and warms up the sometimes dull atmospheres of the first days of winter. No wonder we use them as decoration to brighten up the centerpieces before, most often, transforming them into velvety! But don’t be too fooled by their good looks.

When is squash season?

They have hard, thick and inedible skin., with the exception of pumpkin and unlike their summer cousins ​​(zucchini, squash, etc.). And for good reason, we must be armed to withstand their conditions of detention throughout the winter. Think about it, once they are taken from the vegetable garden at maturity, they are kept in a humid atmosphere, preferably at the bottom of a cellar, deprived of heat and light. This draconian diet allows us to consume most of them until the end of Februaryweeks and weeks after their harvest.

The virtues and benefits of squash

Mainly composed of water, squash do not display extravagant nutritional properties. On the other hand, they represent a significant source of potassium and vitamin A and have this particularity of taking us on a journey as their varied, even complicated, forms nourish our imagination and take us far away. Besides, don’t pumpkins transform into carriages? Tall tales? Who knows…

Because some species are not devoid of magic. Like the pumpkin, nicknamed “Hokkaido pumpkin”, the Japanese island where it was born. This creeping squash, with its delicate chestnut flavor, has an astonishing ability: the longer it is stored, the more its vitamin content increases! Better, instead of losing their taste, their flesh becomes more and more sweet.
Enough to inspire many recipes: mash potatoes, gnocchi, ravioli with pumpkin flesh, blanks, chutneysgarnishes pies or quichesin terrine… The pumpkin can be cut into slices then grilled in the oven. Once cooked whole in the oven and emptied of its seeds, it can also be stuffed, with mushrooms for example, or even used raw in salad with beets and apples, simply grated.