Acorn and butternut squash

[Onatah]

We've had our first frost so now's the time to bring in the squash, regardless of the fact I still had blooms and every stage of squash in between.

Will they ripen off the vine when they aren't quite ready? My butternut have the green 'veins' at the vine side but some acorns are still not real dark. Those that are real dark lack the orange spot. Maybe they don't need the orange spot? I just noticed those with a bigger orange spot are the best eating so I tend to gravitate towards picking those for cooking.

How do you store your acorn and butternut squash over winter?

 

[Mockingbird]

I just store the squash in a cold area the same way I store the potatoes, they last for awhile as long as it is not to moist and they don't get mildew, so make sure they are well dried off. they never last all winter, maybe till November but the get dried out. In all sincerity though you should cook them, squash freezes very well. I don't think I would have lifted the squash just yet, I know we have a frost, but I might have been inclined to cover them with hay because it is suppose to warm up later this week. You cover them and then uncover in the daylight, I know it is borrowed time but I think it might have been okay because there is not to much rain for the forecast to make hay an issue. Treat them like pumpkins. I have no idea if you are in a valley or not, where the freeze might have been deeper, but if it was like ours you might have been better to take the chance with some of the squash. A few more days of warmth might have made them a bit sweeter. They can taste watery if then don't get enough heat.

 

[Onatah]

Thank you so much. I haven't picked them yet. Some are growing right up onto the chain link fence that surrounds the garden so no covering those but I'll see how long I can leave them. I've never raised pumpkins so this is all new to me. I've had butternut before but never enough to put any up for the winter.
I'll keep them for a bit and work slowly on freezing them after being cooked. Is it better to just slightly cook or do you cook completely to a point you just warm up later?

 

[Mockingbird]

I cook mine all the way, usually baked with some brown sugar and butter although some folks prefer Cinnamon. I beat with a mixer until smooth and then either freeze in a freezer bag or those plastic containers. You then just have to reheat to serve. I usually just use the microwave for that. I have noticed you can keep the cooked squash frozen for quite some time. I think the longest that I ever had frozen was maybe until January, as a family we like squash so it does not sit. This year I would like to try to use some instead of zucchini in a bread. i will let you know how it works out.

 

[Onatah]

I cook mine the same with the brown sugar and butter. Yum! I haven't tried cinnamon. I should. Hubby gets sensitive if it is too sweet. We eat a lot of squash here, too but I have quite a harvest to get through if they all ripen for me.
I would really LOVE to hear how using it for bread works out.

If anyone else has ideas for how else to use it than just simply mashed, I'd love to hear it. We enjoy making homemade soups so I considered using some in soups to see what it does. I'm sure it would just end up flavor and thickener because it won't hold shape, of course but it may be a nice punch of sweetness and my favorite soups are creamy soups anyhow.