Calabaza
Cucurbita moschata · Squash
Top 10 pairings
Calabaza is the large tropical pumpkin of the Caribbean and Latin America — a heavy, round-to-oblong Cucurbita moschata squash with mottled tan, green or orange skin and dense, deep-orange, sweet flesh. Central to sopa de calabaza, sancocho and countless stews, it is usually sold in cut wedges because a whole one can weigh many kilograms.
Picking a good onedrag
Cured hard, flesh deep orangeSoft, weeping, mould at the cut
Shop firmEveryday bestThe all-rounder: sancocho, sopa de calabaza, roast, puree.
StemHard and dry, cut back short
Rind under a nailNail marks it, will not pierce
The cut faceOrange, the face a little dried
Smell at the cutAlmost nothing, dry and dusty
What you get from one
71%
Edible part
3,195 g flesh · rind, seeds and stem out
4500 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
Below about 10 C the rind pits and the flesh turns watery, so a whole calabaza keeps far better in a cool dry room than in the fridge; cut wedges invert — wrap and chill those.
50-70%
Humidity
Open and airy
Airflow