Squashed Gourds?

 

Sweet Dumpling, Banana, Pumpkin Pie

Sounds like some kind of dessert menu?

Nope.

Those are all names of different kinds of squash.

Here are a few more -

Delicata, Buttercup, Golden Nugget, Cushaw, Acorn, Red Kuri

Is a squash a pumpkin, a gourd or what?

“Squash is defined as hard to peel, has big seeds and sometimes has ‘stringy guts’.

Well, that doesn’t help much.

Wikipedia tells me squash is botanically a fruit, but is a vegetable in food prep.

?

It also tells me pumpkins and zucchini are in the gourd family. Except, zucchini is pretty easy to peel…

What I do know is there are some great recipes out there for using different kinds of squash.

There are also some really pretty and unusual shaped gourds that are great for home decor.

So let’s dive in!

Cover of Saturday Evening Post; Nov, 1913

I did not grow up eating squash, except zucchini when made into zucchini bread. When I discovered squash sometime in my early 20’s - yum!

Here is an easy recipe for oven baked squash rounds.

Oven baked summer squash

Courtesy spendwithpennies.com

Sautéed zucchini and summer squash is a favorite for us. Nothing fancy. Just slice the squash 1/4”. Put some butter in a pan and heat. Toss in zucchini/squash and stir. Add some Seasoned Salt or Mrs.Dash, a little ground pepper to taste. Stir fairly frequently until limp and brown. Serve hot.

So what are the differences between all these squash/zucchini/gourds I see in the supermarket?

Here’s a nice chart:

I first had acorn squash cooked something like this recipe. Try it!

Baked Maple Acorn Squash

Courtesy thenatureofhome.com

Artist unknown

Acorn squash is readily available and stores well. Here is a recipe for Roasted Acorn Squash -

Roasted Acorn Squash

Courtesy downshiftology.com

When your garden is being taken over by gigantic zucchini, here is an easy way to eat some. Tasty too!

Parmesan Zucchini Fries

Vintage seed packet

I’m a muffin girl, through and through, so of course I have to include a muffin recipe.

I have scattered throughout this blog ideas of how to decorate with gourds. All were gathered from Pinterest, and of course most have no id with them.

Ready to try some Spaghetti Squash?

Here’s a handy chart for cooking times:

Linocut by Grace Gillespie Prints; Etsy

Ready for more recipes? This one is a slightly different way to microwave your spaghetti squash:

Another recipe:

I didn’t put instructions as they are similar to the previous recipe. Just treat your cooked spaghetti squash like  regular cooked spaghetti noodles.

Let’s explore Butternut Squash next.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Downshiftology.com

Found a nice chart on storing your different types of squash on Pinterest:

Let’s check out some Yellow Squash.

It has a few different names, but it basically looks like this:

Here is a recipe that uses yellow squash, but you can combine it with zucchini.

Crustless Squash Pie

 Biscuitsandburlap.com

I hope I have encouraged you to try a few different types of squash.

Do you have a favorite squash recipe you could share with us? I’d love to hear from you!

‘til next time,

inkspired