Hello!

Finally Fall! (After all of that super warm time in September and October!)

The wind, the cold, the wind, the rain, the wind, the snow, the wind, the elections, the snow, the wind . . .

And these long, dark nights!!! Dark before 4:30??? At least we got to enjoy 1 extra hour of sleep last weekend!

Mother Nature – gotta love her!

At any rate – its still November – it’s still fall – and we are still going to talk about some fall stuff today. So here it goes! Delicata – Red Kuri – Amber Cup – Lakota – Sweet Dumpling – Sweet Mama – Waltham – Burgess – Table King – Table Queen – Table Ace – Table Gold!!!

Sound delicious? Sound Nutritious? You bet they are!!! These are all some names of some realty delicious, nutritious winter squash. Yes, winter squash!
 High in vitamin A (beta carotene)
 High in vitamin C (important for healing)
 High in fiber (great for digestion).

And just who are these winter squash characters? Well, besides pumpkins you have Acorn squash:
• Shaped sort of like an acorn
• Usually dark green skin with deep ridges
• Orange yellow flesh inside
Some acorny names are: Tay Belle, Table Ace, Table King, Table Queen, Mesa Queen, Autumn Delight, Cream of the Crop (white acorn). Then there are the multi-coloreds: Harlequin and Festival. There’s even a yellow acorn called Table Gold.

Another fantastic winter squash – Butter Cup:
• Usually dark green skin with light green stripes
• Round shaped with a flat top
• Usually with a cup popping out of the bottom
   • • (There are a few new butter cup inventions that are bottom cupless!)
• Butter cup flesh is thick and dry, and orange

When you first harvest Butter Cup, it’s very dry, but it gets sweeter and moister after a few weeks. Some Butter Cup names: Burgess, Autumn Cup, (orange outside) Amber Cup, Delica, Sweet Mama. Kabocha squashes are butter cups without the bottom cups.

Still another fantastic winter squash is Butter Nut:
• Shaped like a long bell or pear
• Light tan or buff skin
    • • (No – no – no – not the “Survivor” buffs – color – buff tan!)
• Deep orange flesh
• Mild sweet flavor

Some popular Butter Nut names: Better Boy, Bugle, Waltham, Puritan, Avalon, Neck Pumpkin.

More on winter squash varieties next week. For this week, your homework assignment is to find, cook, and taste some acorn squash, or some Butter Cup squash, or some Butter Nut squash! Try it – you’ll like it!

Remember - Eat Smart New York!

And - Bye – Talk to you soon!

D