Name:  Cucurbita moschata  aka Waltham butternut squash.

Type of Plant:  A winter squash that has, since it’s development in the 1940’s, has become the gold standard for this type of vegetable. This squash contains Vitamin C, B6, Magnesium and Potassium, plus even a bit of protein.

Why I Love This Plant:  I love growing butternut squash because it’s delicious and can be prepared in so many directions. I use this in soups, in potato and pasta dishes, roasted with spices and instead of pumpkin in our Thanksgiving pies. Yes, butternut squash makes a more flavorful pie than if you use pumpkin flesh.

I also love this vegetable because it can just cook along on the edge of a vegetable garden all summer. Plant seeds in fertile, turned soil, mulch all around the plants so that the weeds are kept down, water deeply every 5 to 7 days, and keep the bunnies at bay.

A Word to the Wise: This squash does like to roam. Provide plenty of space for the vines. I’d recommend an area that is about eight feet wide and twelve feet long, with three groups of five to seven squash plants centered in that space.  If powdery mildew has been a problem on your squash in the past, spray every week to 10 days with the organic fungicide of your choice.

This is just a fraction of my butternut squash harvest for 2021. We have some of it roasted and frozen, some stored in the cold garage, and some has been cooked in various recipes and eaten or frozen for the future.

This is how a butternut squash looks as it is forming on the plant.

One of my favorite ways to prepare this type of winter squash is with french lentils and leeks. Cook the lentils, then sauté the leeks and squash in olive oil. Combine together with some cashew butter or a bit of heavy cream and serve.

Butternut squash is most often cooked as a creamy soup. This can be vegan or dairy free, and there are many yummy recipes available in cookbooks or online.

All of our traditional Thanksgiving pies are made with butternut squash. We use the new York Times Cookbook recipe for Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie but instead of pumpkin mush we use butternut squash that’s been roasted in the oven.