Saving Butternut Squash

[Gloria]

I usually cut mine into slices, cut the peel off and take the seedy guts out, and cube the rest, put in a large covered glass bowl, and then microwave it til soft and smushable. Then cool and freeze. When thawed it can be mashed/pureed further for use as side dish, or used in baking (squash bread, pumpkin pie, etc)

You can also microwave it to a lesser degree and freeze as cubes if you have recipes that use cubed cooked squash.

If you roast it, IMO it has a bit better flavor, though. Cut in half *lengthwise* (so you have two mirror halves), remove seedy guts, put the halves facedown on a lightly greased rimmed baking tray, and bake at whatever temperature is convenient til easily pierced by a fork. Cool, scrape the flesh out, and freeze.

JME,

Pat

Thanks so much for your help Pat. Like I said I just tried this squash for the first time. So I only have one recipe for it and that calls for it to be cubed.

Now if I could find an easy way to peel the things I'd be doing ok. I can't believe how hard it was to peel.

Can you cut in half lengthwise and microwave for a bit then peel it? That might make it a bit easier to peel.

 

[wifezilla]

Like pat said, roasting can develop better flavor. I cut them in half, save the seeds for separate roasting, coat them in butter and bake.

Then scoop out the meat, put in a baggie and freeze.

I use pureed squash as a soup thickener and cubed squash as a bread replacement in stuffing.

 

[valmom]

I like the idea of the bleach solution! My butternut lasted in our basement until Feb- and even then, I could cut off the soft end and it was OK. Well, except for one that a mouse burrowed into I had so much left over last year that at the end of the season I decided to just experiment and see how long it was edible. Worked pretty well- I'll do it again this year with the bleach solution to sterilize it.

 

[smom1976]

I have had one for months sitting on my counter.. we had it like in last november... it is now just starting to get the discolored spots..