Storing winter squash

Oct 13, 2011

by Paul Pospisil, Lanark County Master Gardeners

The centuries’ old practice of putting food by for winter has disappeared from many households for a number of reasons: with an abundance of supermarket food, fewer people are growing their own; the time pressure of having both mom and dad working out leaves no one at home to do the gardening, harvesting and storage or preserving; and technology has made our homes so warm and dry that the old cool basement or root cellar used for food storage is no longer there.

For the avid gardener, however, growing and eating your own vegetables is a delight. Winter squash is one of those traditional winter keepers that is relatively easy to store with a little preparation.

Winter squash ranges from such popular types as buttercup, butternut, acorn and spaghetti to the huge, 25-30 pound ones like the green, orange or blue hubbards, as well as many newer hybrids. It is delicious and has endless uses in cooking and baking. It is high in vitamin A, potassium, iron and riboflavin and in the fall, also high in vitamin C. This near-perfect vegetable is full of nutrition and doesn’t deteriorate very quickly in storage.

The squash should be harvested and cured before the first fall frost. You can check to see if it’s ready by pressing your thumbnail against the rind. If the rind breaks easily, the squash won’t keep so use it up first. You can also tell by the rind colour once you become familiar with growing them. Store only the fully-matured ones.

Choose a dry, sunny day for harvesting. Cut the squash from the vine, leaving 2-3” of stem. If there is no risk of frost, roll the squash over to expose the pale side and leave in the garden for a few days. Take the squash indoors to cure. I wash and dry ours to remove any garden dirt or spores that could cause decay.

Cure the squash by keeping in a warm, dry and ventilated area for two weeks. Then, move it into cool storage, around 50-55 degrees, if possible. The ideal storage is a cold room in a corner of your basement with a window. Otherwise, any cool place will do – an unheated bedroom, a cool pantry or attic or a corner of the basement far away from the furnace or any heat vents. Store squash on racks so they don’t touch. Check the stored squash frequently and use up any that show signs of starting to soften. Squash loses flavour quickly once it starts to soften.

Well-cured, mature squash should keep until February or March, sometimes longer. Any surplus squash can be cooked, packed in serving-size zip-loc bags and frozen for ready use.

 All your gardening questions can be submitted and answered on our website atwww.lanarkmastergardeners.mgoi.ca