Healing with Food Update

Squash at its Best

Accompanying recipe: Baked Red Kuri Squash

Here's why I'm savoring one of my favorite foods in January.

If you live in a temperate zone, there's still time to feast on local squash. Yes, winter squash is available 12 months of the year. But, after your regional supply runs out, those shipped in from a warmer climate lack the sweetness of frost-hardened squash.

That's why I get my fill of winter squash in the fall and winter. Then, during warmer months, it is easy to pass on out-of-season squash while anticipating the next, and superior, local crop. If I'm hungry for something "winter-squash-like" in June, I favor sweet potatoes or else enjoy summer squash which is then at its peak.

Of winter squash varieties, my favorites include Buttercup, Butternut, Delicata, Gold Nugget, Red Kuri, Kabucha or Blue Hubbard. Choose a firm squash that is heavy for its size and without soft spots.

Yes, acorn and spaghetti squash are like winter squash in that they're good keepers. However, botanically they are summer squash with more fibrous-and less flavorful-flesh and less beta-carotene.

To enhance a squashes sweetness, bake, braise or sauté it.

May you be well nourished!

Rebecca Wood