Preserving Butternut Squash

 Butternut Squash:

This vegetable is so versatile and can be used in so many ways for so many dishes. You can freeze them, or can them. They are so easy to grow. The hardest part of preserving these is when you get ready to cut them up. They are awkward in shape which makes them harder. However, once you find the way you want to cut them and get into a flow, it goes by pretty fast. 

I found a way to cut them that was easy for me. First , I cut the ends off where you have a flat bottom and top so it want roll with you. I start at the top and slice down, with the grain and cut in half. Then I scoop out the seeds. If I am roasting some for puree, this is where I would leave the skins on, turn flesh down onto a lined baking  sheet with aluminum foil, roast in the oven at 375 or 400 degrees until soft and skins are wrinkly. This makes the skins easier to peel off. I remove them from the oven and let them cool completely so you can touch them. I peel the skins off and place flesh into a bowl. After a few minutes, water will collect at the bottom in the bowl. Drain water or you can put in a cheese cloth and hang over sink to let the water drain. After draining water, I take a potato masher and mash and stir up to make puree. You can also do this in a stand mixer. I then take a 1 cup measuring cup and put into a vacuum seal bag and vacuum seal bags with my vacuum sealer or you can use ziploc bags. Flatten them out for easier storage in freezer. 

Next is to cut them up into cubes to freeze or pressure can. After I cut them in half and scoop the seeds out, now I turn it over and grab the neck of the squash. I will take a vegetable peeler and peel down the neck to the rounded bottom. The rounded bottom is the hardest, but you peel going around the bottom not down (if this doesn't make sense, I am attaching the video version so you can see). After all skin is removed, I cut the half where the neck meets the round shape of the squash. It is easier to cut the neck into strips then into cubes. The bowl part, I can cut into wedges and have wedged fries. Or I can keep  cutting them down into cubes. You can actually leave the necks into strips and use as french fry wedges. After I get them all broke down, I decide what will get frozen and what will get pressure canned. The wedges will get put into vacuum seal bags and vacuumed sealed and put into freezer. I can also freezer some that are cubed up and do them the same way. Then I will can some that are cubed up. This is where I get creative. I can can some in water, vegetable stock or a simple syrup of brown sugar, syrup and water. Or I can dry pack them (no water in the jars). I can have a variety on hand at a moments notice for a meal. 

For the ones that I am canning, I pack raw cubes into jars, fill the jars up to the neck with water (or whatever I want to can them in), debubble, wipe rims of jars, place lids and bands on finger tip tight and place into pressure canner. I process quarts for 90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure. Check the lbs per pressure for your altitude. 

 However you cut your squash is how many different ways you can use them. For example, If I cut some of the squash into strips I use as french fries. If I cut into cubes, I can roast them on sheet pan dinners, throw into roasts, stews, soups, etc. I can boil or bake the cubes and still have mashed squash. The puree can also be a substitute in pumpkin pie. Yes, in the depression era cooking days they would do this if they did not have pumpkins. I told you squash is so versatile and can be used in so many different ways and recipes. Butternut squash is a good substitute for Keto and Diabetic diets. 

Here, you can watch the video version: