GARDEN FRESH : The Squash Tribe

If any provender from the garden symbolizes joyous abundance and abandon, it’s winter squashes. Growing, their vines clamber cross country, rollicking over (and up and over) everything in their path. Ripening, their voluptuous fruits gleam green, gold, yellow, orange, ivory, blue and red amid thickets of bold dark leaves. The colors can take the shapes of rounds, drums, teardrops, schmoos (from “Li’l Abner,” remember?) acorns and blimpy bananas and pears--their figures fluted or smooth. Sizes of winter’s squashes can range from peaches to Cinderella’s coach.

And what’s the difference between summer and winter squash? Just time. Summer squashes are immature fruits, ready to eat within six or seven weeks of sowing. Winter squashes have ripened, usually taking three to four months to do it, and aren’t ready to eat until late autumn or winter.

Over the years, some strains of squashes have proven to be tastier at one stage or another. But that’s not to say you can’t eat your squashes any time you please.

Cucurbita, the squash tribe, consists of several families. Four of them produce winter squashes. It’s important to know the pluses and minuses of each clan when ordering seeds. And it’s rewarding to know what you’re seeing at the market--you no longer have to settle for tried and true banana squash.

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* C. maxima: Generally the sweetest, least fibrous, best-keeping and largest winter squash. Some will store a year or more, and their quality will hold. Enormous rumpled hubbards (some gauzy blue), flavorful buttercups with belly buttons, big zucchini-shaped bananas, exotic turbans and matte-shelled kabochas that look like Japanese rice wine pots are C. maximas. I’m partial to the scarlet-orange, teardrop-shaped Red Kuri and thick, dark orange, ultra-smooth Chestnut.

The coach-sized pumpkins are also maximas (yes, pumpkins are winter squashes). Big Max regularly weighs in at 100 pounds, and its golden flesh makes good pies. There are pumpkins I heard about that weigh 600 pounds or more--suitable for Reubenesque Cinderellas.

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* C. pepo: Here are the rest of the glorious pumpkins. Large, rosy-red Rouge Vif D’Etampes, generously round, flattish and deeply gathered, a pumpkin out of a French fairy-tale--and magical in the garden. A small sugar pumpkin, on the other hand, is Yankee plainsong, perhaps the finest for pies. Trick or Treat has lots of “naked” seeds--with no hulls, for carefree nibbling. The deeply lobed acorn squashes with their buttery orange flesh, the zany spaghettis, the diminutive green-and-ivory striped Delicatas (long) and Sweet Dumplings (round) are also C. pepos.

Usually C. pepo squashes must be eaten within a month or two of harvest. After that, their quality declines. But pepos are the fastest-maturing squashes--best choices for areas with short seasons. (Incidentally, all the summer squashes are pepos.)

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* C. moschata: Here are the long, pear-shaped, buff-colored butternuts. They’re not the handsomest of the tribe on the outside, but inside they have a small seed cavity and lightly sweet flesh that cooks to lustrous orange. Butternuts are among the longest-keeping winter squashes and they grow easily. Waltham Butternut is tops.

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* C. mixta: Little grown except for Green-Striped Cushaw, shaped like a crooknecked butternut, pale-green mottled with dark-green. The flesh is coarser and less sweet than other winter squashes, but good for baking. Popular in the South because Cushaw’s vines are vigorous and among the most drought-tolerant.

Having set their winter squashes in a cool, dark, dry, airy place in autumn, prudent gardeners everywhere are now bringing them into the kitchen. A splendid feeling. I once kept an enormous blue Hopi winter squash in our entry hall for a year, rather than in the cellar. I felt rich every time I looked at it.

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Like so many plants, squashes are easy to grow if they have what they need: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil, stuffed with organic matter--the happiest squashes I’ve seen were volunteers on the compost pile.

Wait to sow seeds until the soil is warm. I set squashes three feet apart at the edge of the border so they can amble over the grass or along the railroad ties or down the slope and nobody’s bothered. Each is beautiful in its own luxuriant way.

When the days turn warm, mulch deeply with compost. Spray once a month with mild kelp solution.

No room for gallivanting vines in your garden? Grow a squash in lightweight potting mix in a five- to six-gallon container two feet deep. Burpee offers shorter-vined varieties: bushkin pumpkin, butterbush butternut and bush acorn. Keep the soil mix moist but not wet, and feed every two weeks at half-strength.

Patrol for bugs and eggs on and under the leaves (protect with insect-weight floating row covers from the beginning if your area has problems). Harvest winter squashes before danger of frost, when the stalks begin to shrivel, the shell is no longer shiny but dull and can’t be pierced with a thumbnail. The best squashes are those that seem heavy for their size.

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Beyond mere beauty to the eye, winter squashes give exceptional sustenance. They’re full of beta carotene (which, curiously, increases in storage), Vitamin A, Vitamin C and potassium. And this good eating comes with remarkably few calories.

All winter squashes are superb baked au naturel. Even when the flesh isn’t exposed to oven heat, roasting intensifies the sweetness and best preserves beta carotene. To me, the most pleasing way to eat winter squash is to pierce a whole acorn or Delicata or Sweet Dumpling or Baby Bear pumpkin with a long, sharp fork, slip the squash on a pie dish into the oven, bake at around 400 degrees until tender, about 45 minutes, take it out, slice in half, scoop out the seeds and strings, sprinkle over nutmeg and brown sugar to taste, then sit down and dive in with a spoon.

Bigger squashes must be sliced in pieces before baking. Use a strong, sharp knife or cleaver and concentrate. A rubber mallet helps. Bake the pieces face up, occasionally brushing with butter or a nut oil. The temperature is the same, but the time depends on thickness--anywhere from 15 minutes to 40 minutes.

Incidentally, when a recipe calls for peeled winter squash, choose a variety with a smooth skin. Peeling a fluted acorn squash, no matter what technique you use, is maddening.

It’s a shame that using cooked halves of winter squashes as serving bowls has been done to death. Squash seeds will never go out of style, though. Toast seeds in an oiled pie dish at 325 degrees, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

Tonight, we’ve just finished a supper of my mother’s delightful winter squash curry. It’s snowing outside, but the bright orange sauce mantling white rice--with bits of apples, radishes, green onions, tomatoes, coconut, raisins, peanuts, peppers, cucumbers and cilantro tumbling down the slope--makes it seem as though the sun is shining on our plates.

Winter squashes, now that I think of it, should be called summer squashes. Their glow is a slice of summer.

Sources:

Fresh--Ask produce manager at market to offer greater variety in winter squashes (couldn’t hurt).

Seeds--Rouge Vif D’Etampes, Trick or Treat and Small Sugar from The Cook’s Garden, Box 535, Londonderry, Vt. 05148. Bush squashes and Big Max from W. Atlee Burpee, Warminster, Pa. 18974. Waltham Butternut and Green-Striped Cushaw from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Box 158, North Garden, Va. 22959. The rest and floating row covers from Johnny’s, Foss Hill Road, Albion, Me. 04910-9731. Detailed growing information in the last two catalogues.

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My mother is not a purist but an artist, and hers is an inventive curry. So in preparing it, I’m not a purist either. Usually I don’t consider using out-of-season vegetables, but the more colors in this composition, the merrier. So if you see an appealing this and that at the market that wouldn’t flatten your purse, add them to the heap. The sauce may be prepared a day in advance, and the condiments (except for the apples) a couple of hours before serving. We like beer or jasmine tea with curry. Serve with lots of steamed white rice and the condiments surrounding so people may add what they’d like. For dessert, why not pick up some baklava at a Mediterranean deli?

GLORIA’S WINTER SQUASH CURRY

4 1/2 pounds butternut or other bright-fleshed winter squash

2 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

About 1 1/2 cups beef or vegetable broth

Salt

2 cups finely chopped green onions

2 cups chopped radishes

2 cups chopped green or red peppers

2 cups chopped cucumbers

2 cups chopped tomatoes

2 cups diced red apples

2 cups dark raisins

2 cups shredded coconut

2 cups chopped peanuts

2 cups chopped cilantro

2 cups preserved chutney

With strong, sharp knife, cut squash in half, remove seeds and strings, then slice off rind. Cut squash into 1 1/2-inch chunks. Steam until tender, about 20 minutes, stirring pieces occasionally. Process to smooth puree in food processor, 2 cups at time.

In top of large double boiler or heavy saucepan over flame tamer, melt butter. Blend in curry powder. Whisk over medium heat, about 1 minute. Blend in squash and heat over hot water or stir over medium heat occasionally so sauce won’t burn, 15 to 20 minutes.

When hot, thin to consistency of thick cream sauce by slowly whisking in broth. Season to taste with salt. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve green onions, radishes, green or red peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, diced red apples, dark raisins, shredded coconut, peanuts and cilantro as condiments to add as desired. Makes 8 servings.

Note: When chopping green onions and radishes, include tender leaves. Include seeds with peppers.

Each serving, without optional condiments, contains about:

148 calories; 196 mg sodium; 8 mg cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 3.57 grams fiber.