Delicata squash
Cucurbita pepo · Squash
Top 10 pairings
Delicata — also called the sweet potato squash, peanut squash or Bohemian squash — is a small, oblong winter squash of Cucurbita pepo, instantly recognised by its thin, cream-yellow skin striped dark green along the grooves. Unlike the hard-shelled winter squashes, its rind is thin and edible, so the whole fruit can be split, seeded and roasted in rings, skin and all. The pale creamy-orange flesh is sweet and smooth, tasting markedly of sweet potato and sweetcorn, which is where its nicknames come from.
Picking a good onedrag
Cured hard, just pickedSoft-spotted, weeping
Shop firmEveryday bestThe all-rounder: roast, soup, pie, curry.
StemHard and dry, cut short
Rind under a nailNail marks it, will not pierce
SkinMatte, one pale ground patch
Smell at the stemFaintly green, clean
These cues are Pumpkin's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
What you get from one
70%
Edible part
952 g flesh · rind, seeds and stem out
1360 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
A whole one wants a cool room, not the fridge. Below 10 C the rind pits. Chill cut wedges.
50–70%
Humidity
Open and airy
Airflow