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Butternut squash
Cucurbita moschata · Squash
40 pairings
Butternut squash is a tan-skinned, pear- or bell-shaped winter squash with dense, deep-orange flesh, a long solid neck and a small seed cavity in the bulbous base. Smooth, sweet and nutty when roasted, puréed into soup or cubed for risotto, it is the classic autumn partner to sage, brown butter and nutmeg.
Picking a good onedrag
Cured hard, dead matteSoft-spotted, damp, mouldy
Shop storedStill all-purpose - roast, soup, mash, risotto.Buy it
StemShort stem, dry and firm
RindTan with pale healed field scars
ThumbnailNail just marks it, still weighty
Smell at the stemFaintly sweet squash at the scar
What to look for, from cured hard, dead matte to soft-spotted, damp, mouldy.
What one gives you
84%
Usable yield
1,260 g · rind, seeds and ends off
1500 g
Typical weight
one specimen
Keeping ittap a band
Below 10 C the rind pits and the flesh goes watery, so a whole squash keeps worse in the fridge than on a shelf; cut pieces are the exception, so wrap and chill those.
Humidity
50-70%
Drier than almost any other vegetable wants: damp air rots the rind, so a dry shelf beats a cool cellar floor.
Airflow
Open and airy
Stand them apart on a shelf or slatted rack, not touching and never bagged - trapped damp is what starts the rot.
Apples cut its keeping short
Keep it away from apples, ripening tomatoes and melons: their ethylene loosens the stem and takes weeks off a squash that should keep months.