[fishhead]

This may be a moot question considering that nearly every squash I picked tonight had the stem break off inside the squash but what is the best way to store or preserve Hubbard squash?

Also, a few have light green streaks left on them. Are they ripe enough to eat?

 

[Vosey]

Here's a link on curing and storing winter squash. You want to cure them before eating. As for the broken stems, that'll affect storage, but the hubbards are so huge you could probably just cut off the end if it's breaking down.

http://bonnieplants.com/library/how-to-store-winter-squash/

 

[fishhead]

Thanks. It looks like they are Waltham Butternut squash. I forgot what I planted but that sounds right and it's what they look like.

It's too bad I broke off the stems because they are supposed to store all winter otherwise. I'll have to use the baking to warm the house when it starts getting cold.

I think I'll have to bake batches and then freeze the meat in baggies.

 

[suitcase_sally]

I use loppers to cut the stems.

Use your thrumb nail and try to puncture the skin. If you can, it's not ripe. I'd say the ones with green aren't ready. They don't improve after they are harvested.

I just put mine on the pantry shelf. They keep for months if they were ripe when harvested. I had one from last year that we ate in September this year.

 

[fishhead]

I'll give it a try. They seem pretty hard skinned.

Next time I'll do the loppers.

 

[Vosey]

I've had butternuts with no stem keep for months, just keep an eye on them. They may only keep 2-3 months instead of 6. Unfortunately, our butternuts did nothing this year? But a few giant blue hubbards should keep us in plenty of squash.

 

[7thswan]

I pulled a pumpkin to make dog food yesterday. I have never ever had a skin so thick and hard. I could not cut it, I literaly had to take my hatchet to it. Anyone know the reason for such a thick skin?

 

[Dixie Bee Acres]

Lots of direct sunlight will cause a pumpkin skin to harden.
On pumpkin farms, a pumpkin is usually cut from the vine and stood up on end and allowed to stay there in place for a week or more before being hauled in for storage. That allows the skin to harden and allows the stem to dry.

 

[fishhead]

I tried the thumbnail test on several that look ripe and every one popped when I pressed on it with my thumbnail. If those weren't ripe none of them are ripe.

I'll have to bake one and see. It would be a shame for them all to go into the compost.

 

[jeffwebb]

Hubbards are usually best eaten after a few months- they don't even really start getting good until January or February

 

[fishhead]

Can different squash be grown near by each other or will they hybridize and produce strange squashes?

 

[Dixie Bee Acres]

Usually, if not always, close varieties of squash and pumpkins can cross pollinate, the fruit will produce what it should, but if you save the seeds, who knows what you will get.

 

[Vosey]

Can different squash be grown near by each other or will they hybridize and produce strange squashes?

We call all the strange squash that grows out of the compost pile "squmpkins" which is what my parents always called them! Although sometimes you get great squash. We had a volunteer squash plant give us beautiful Acorn squashes this year, another one looks like a gourd.