Easy Creamy Cinnamon Baked Cushaw Squash Dessert Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What flavor is cushaw squash? ›

The flesh is light-yellow; it is mild and slightly sweet in flavor; meaty in texture and fibrous. It is sometimes called cushaw pumpkin and is often substituted for the standard, orange, jack-o-lantern pumpkin in pie-making. The cushaw has a green summer squash flavor and scent to it.

To prepare cushaw squash for cooking, start by slicing its neck into rounds (you can cut the rounds into halves if you wish). Carve off the skin to cook the slices in boiling water. Next, scoop the seeds out from the bottom.

Cushaws are packed with carotene, vitamins A, B6, & C, folate, magnesium, riboflavin, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron. Cushaw is anti-inflammatory, boosts immunity, delays aging, improves vision, improves lung health, lowers blood pressure.

Honeynut Squash: The sweetness and flavor made this a clear winner. Delicata Squash: This is actually tied with acorn squash and both are similar in texture and flavor which is why they are ranked at the top.

The squashes turned out to be green-striped cushaw (Cucurbita mixta), which MJ happily ate and shared raw, cooked, boiled and stewed. After eating the meat and seeds of the first one, she realized she “hit it big” and saved the seeds, which is how I grew my first green-striped cushaws last summer.

I found an easy way to cut and store these cushaw (or any other winter squash) and they can be put in a freezer bag and frozen. I've found that it isn't even necessary to pre-freeze on a baking sheet to keep them from sticking together.

Hubbard and buttercup squashes and pie pumpkins can be stored for up to 4 months. Butternuts and cushaws keep best in storage, sometimes lasting until spring.

With its imposing size and large seeds, the cushaw is a beautiful and challenging fruit (yes, fruit!), and we are here to help guide you.

The cushaw is a variety of winter squash and is originally from the south of Mexico. It is a large (sometimes up to 20 pounds!) squash with a characteristic green and white striped pattern. It has a mildly sweet taste and behaves like a pumpkin or delicata squash when it is cooked.

A hard frost can damage the skin of fruits as well as kill the plant leaves and vines. If a hard frost is forecasted, it is probably a good idea to harvest your pumpkins and squash. Luckily, if you have to pick these before they have fully changed color, they will continue to ripen off the vine.

Can squash ripen after picked? ›

Most winter squash types ripen quite a bit after harvest. Even green pumpkins eventually turn orange, although they will not store for long afterwards. In the weeks, and even months, after harvest, winter squash slowly convert starch to sugars, increasing their appeal to our taste buds.

Cushaw is said to come originally from southern Mexico and/or the West Indies, but has made its way north to become part of the traditional foodways of Arizona's Sonoran Desert, Appalachian Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Cucurbita argyrosperma, also called the cushaw squash and silver-seed gourd, is a species of winter squash originally from the south of Mexico.

Nutrition and Health Benefits of Summer Squash

Summer squash is a good source of vitamin B6, which helps maintain skin health and red blood cells. Summer squash is a great source of vitamin C, which helps heal cuts and wounds. The rinds are rich in beta-carotene, which helps eye health.

Butternut Squash

Perhaps the favorite of the squash family - Butternut squash. With a long shape and creamy orange flesh, this is a quintessential autumn favorite. Its sweet, nutty flavor makes it ideal for soups, purees, and roasting.

The mustard color flesh of the kabocha squash is very sweet and rich tast-ing. Its texture is floury dry, like a balance between a sweet potato and a pumpkin. It has the highest sugar content of any squash, and is excellent baked as a side dish or stuffed.