We are continuing to knock down those harvests! Our winter squash is a huge one for us, easily bringing in well over a hundred pounds of food. Like onions and potatoes, they require an “extra step” prior to winter storage, so let’s discuss!
Just like with potatoes and onions, we need to cure our winter squash. This helps dry the outer shell, which will protect the squash for long term storage. Squash are delicate until this curing process happens, so be careful with the freshly harvested! We’ve found this to be a more finicky process than we have with other curing efforts, so we’ll tell you what we think is important.
We’ve found that exposure to daylight is important during the curing process. When we’ve tried curing without daylight, we tend to get much higher rates of spoilage. Also, the setting must be relatively dry (i.e. less humid) as high humidity will also promote spoilage. We find right inside our French door windows to be the ideal curing location. Less convenient for us, sure, but fortunately it’s only temporary.
Again, we’re curing the squash for a period of about 10-14 days. We do this indoors to ensure warm enough temperatures, preferably above 60F. Once we have cured them, then we can store the squash for long term. Any light damage that might be on the squash will become evident quickly during this curing process. So, if you notice soft spots developing, it’s important to eat that squash quickly as it will soon become a mushy mess.
Also, when you’re harvesting squash, it’s a good idea to leave about 2-3 inches of the stem attached. A short stem can be an entry point for early spoilage, so this slightly longer stem will also help protect those squash. If you accidentally break a stem off, which happens sometimes, that squash should be consumed shortly.
All winter squash should be cured, except for acorn squash. For this one exception, immediate storage is appropriate. Typically, you want to use up acorn squash within a couple of months anyway, so these should be easily accessible so you remember to use them up quickly.
As for storage, it’d be great if we had a root cellar. Alas, we have to make concessions without one. So, we store our squash in the coolest room in our home, our guest bedroom. We store quite a bit of produce under our guest bed, which generally keeps it out of the fray, allowing us to pull things out when we find we need things. Even without “ideal” storage temperatures, we find we get 3 to 8+ months of storage, depending on the variety.
We do tend to decorate our home through October and into November with a few of our winter squash as well. Though we’re solidly into winter at this point, this does sort of allow us to “pretend” that we’re celebrating harvest season with the rest of the northern hemisphere.
We’re super excited about our squash run this year! We did pretty decently well. It’s always a serious haul getting these out of our community garden! These squash will become pies, side dishes, casseroles and many other things throughout the winter months!
