Talk about commitment to your cucurbits — a squash vine that you start in spring and rise through summer and harvest in fall and deplete through wintertime ? Welcome to the humankind of wintertime squash .
These summertime annuals(Cucurbita moschata)differ from summer squash in that they are allow to ripen on the vine , through the end of the season , and pick when all their seeds have full educate and their skin have indurate into husky rind . wintertime squash are of course design forlong - term storage , so that you could still savor the flavor right up until you start up sow in the next class ’s seed .
One of my favorite homegrown sort this class is a rare Nipponese heirloom calledBlack Futsu , which is quite the chamaeleon in the garden !
The squash begins as a deep , dark green ( almost sinister ) fruit with lumbering ribbing , swelling and warts .
As it matures , the skin slow turns dull with hints of yellow …
Then it takes on a rather unknown and musty appearance — in fact , I almost cerebrate at first that all my plants had die mildewy ! But this is a raw appendage of toughening up the squash vine for storage , and once the pelt has turn a grayish chromaticity , it can be glean and kept in a cool , gloomy pantry ( does anyone have one of those anymore ? ) for around six month .
If you may waitress another few weeks for harvest — as the skin transforms again into patches of orange — it will keep even long . In entrepot , the squash rackets will finally settle into a tan or unclouded brown gloss .
Black Futsu is a modest squash rackets smorgasbord , ranging from the size of a Citrus paradisi to about three time that size of it . On the smaller close , it makes a good full lunch for one ; on the tumid end , it will feed up to four folks as a side dish .
Once you skip it open , you ’ll find bright orangish physical body with a flavor crossed between a pumpkin and a chestnut tree — fresh , buttery , and more or less loopy . Unlike the thick skin on many other wintertime squash rackets , the relatively slight skin on Black Futsu remains edible .
I like to slice up the squash in half ( especially the small ones ) and blackguard with a little European olive tree petroleum , salt and white pepper until the bod becomes soft and the cutis becomes crisp . If I want to get really fancy , I ’ll stuff the halves with a sprinkling of Viscount St. Albans and cheese ( and whatever I find in the fridge ) .
For larger squash rackets , you may slice them into 1/2 - in or 1 - column inch wedges , cast aside with your pet petroleum and spices , and roast at 425 ° F for about 30 minute . These roast slice actually arrive out tasting like unfermented potato fries ! So . Delicious .
I have five Black Futsus squirreled aside for wintertime , and ca n’t wait to try a few new recipes in the coming month !
