Butternut squash is a type of winter squash that has a sweet, nutty taste similar to a pumpkin (which makes sense because they’re in the same family). It has tan-yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp with a compartment of seeds in the blossom end. It’s another great way to add beautiful and nutritious color to your meals.
Butternut squash have a cornucopia of health benefits: they are high in antioxidants, including vitamin C, boosts your immune system, helps prevent and fight cancer, keeps bones healthy, and aids in weight loss.
This fall fruit is primarily found in the U.S. (particularly in Michigan), though it’s also grown in Europe, Australia, and other countries worldwide. But in Australia and New Zealand it’s called a butternut pumpkin or gramma. Even though they’re a Fall favorite, they’re called winter squash because they store well and can keep throughout the winter.
Like a pumpkin, butternut squash is known to have a thicker skin, so you would store and cut them as you would a pumpkin. The best way to prepare it is by trimming the ends off, peeling off the skin, scooping out the seeds, and then cutting it up into smaller pieces. Then you’ll want to soften them up, and the best/easiest way to do that is by roasting the cubes. Preheat your oven to 425F, line a cookie sheet or shallow roasting pan with tin foil, toss the cubes in olive oil and season to taste. Roast for about 20 minutes, checking and turning at around the halfway point (ten minutes). If you’d like a sweeter taste, try mixing a little maple syrup in with the oil.
Butternut Squash are fantastic in soups or just roasted and thrown into any dish to boost the hearty and healthy factor. You can substitute butternut squash (or really any other winter squash) for any recipe that calls for pumpkin, and vice versa. If your mouth is watering but you don’t know where to start, here are 35 fantastic butternut squash recipes for you to try from Bon Appetit.
What’s the difference between a Squash and a Gourd?
The word squash is typically used to refer to the kind of fruit with a hard rind surrounding edible flesh, like butternut and acorn squash (which are varieties of winter squash) or zucchini and yellow squash (varieties of summer squash). Pumpkins are a kind of squash. The word gourd is typically used to refer to the decorative varieties of squash that we don’t eat.
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