Squash signals start of fall
From festive photos to table centerpieces, squash is the poster food for autumn. Summer squash is available year-round, but the prices go up dramatically because the supply is no longer local. In their place, though, come the squashes of autumn. You may hear them referred to as winter squash, because they can be stored through the winter months, but they arrive in late summer and fall. Beautiful and colorful, they offer so many more choices when it comes to recipes than their summer counterparts.
The gourd family offers varieties including acorn, hubbard, butternut, delicata squash and spaghetti squash. The latter’s pasta-like strands are a healthful substitute for spaghetti pasta, and they taste great on their own with a little salt and butter. Acorn squash can be transformed into beautiful soups, while butternut is excellent when roasted with a little olive oil and garlic. And give me a salad with delicata squash and goat cheese tossed in a mustardy vinaigrette, and I’ll be your friend for life.
There’s really no end to all the delicious ideas you can come up with using the fall squash harvest.
The sight of autumn squash is a telltale sign of fall, as reliable as the colder temperatures and shorter days ahead.
Crabtree Farms is one place in Chattanooga where you can buy butternut squash fresh from the field, though it takes a little time from harvest to table.
“We plant our winter squashes early in the season, so they are ready to be harvested in August,” says Sara McIntyre, executive director at Crabtree Farms. “Once harvested, the squashes must be cleaned and cured — a process that allows the natural starches in the flesh of the fruit to transform to sugars, lending the slightly sweet flavors beloved in most winter squashes.”
Typically, the farm is ready to sell its winter squashes beginning this month and lasting as long as they can be kept in stock.
“We usually run out of win-