Blue Hubbard Squash

[jonathco]

Without a doubt, Blue Hubbard squash are one of my absolute favorite varieties; they store well and the taste is second to none! Here we are in the final days of December and the Mrs. and I are still cooking squash that we've stored from the fall. For those who haven't experienced this variety of squash, they are hard as a rock, store very well, and in my humble opinion - taste far superior to any pumpkin variety for pies and breads.

One of the hardest parts of cooking with Blue Hubbards is getting them cut open! I've found a hatchet to be the best option; a few wacks and they crack down the middle.



Anyone else on here a fan of winter squash? What's your favorite variety and why?

 

[oosik]

That's bigger than I thought. I grow squash. Usually acorn & butternut. I will give the Blue Hubbard a try - if I can find the seeds - this coming spring.

Looks like that hatchet might be the recipe for an accident. Maybe a log splitter - ha, ha.

It DOES look like a good squash .......... Man, I DO love baked squash.

 

[farmeratheart]

My personal favorite has always been the Buttercup squash. Hubbard is great, but they are just too large for me to eat all of it from one squash. I’m the only one that likes it in the family. Buttercup squash is smaller and easier to open. The flesh is dark orange and has an almost smoky flavor.

Good eating!

Frank

 

[user.69169]

Dey hard to open fer good reason.

Dey supposed to buried deep and whole so nature can rot em proper.

 

[Rowdy Redneck]

My wife's family in West Michigan grows a lot of pumpkins. We like Long Island cheese, flat white Boer, Cinderella, fairytale, and the blue hubbard. Lots of other good ones that I can't recall at the moment. We weren't able to get many from them this fall, but did puree and cube what we got so that we can enjoy them for a while.

 

[Ford850]

Buttercup is my favorite. The flesh looks similar to the Hubbard and it stores till mid winter too. But I had bad wilt problems a few years ago and it spread to my pumpkins. So I’ve planted no pumpkins or squash for 2 years, and hope to try again after a couple more years. Hopefully the ground will be safe by then.

 

[ponytug]

+1 on Hubbards. My favorite. Kabuchas are my second favorite, though they do not store as well as Hubbard squashes. (Does anything else store as well?)

Funnily enough, I also use a hatchet; I think that using a knife on the rind is asking for trouble in my opinion. The rind is way way too hard.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ponytug]

FWIW: I heard a soil cleaning trick from a local organic strawberry farmer; he puts in a cover crop of broccoli, harvests the crop, and then rototills the plants into the soil, and covers it with a tarp with the edges tucked into the soil for at least two sunny weeks. He said to be careful removing the tarp, as it is apparently like tear gas when you go to lift it. He says it is the only organic way to get molds out of soils.

YMMV....

All the best,

Peter

 

[Jstpssng]

Our neighbor used to raise them when I was growing up, I don't remember how much they weighed but it was a lot. I keep trying but they don't like to cooperate, I might get a few 5 lb squash if I'm lucky. My father used to use a big knife, but have an old meat saw which would work well for cutting them open. My mother mixed those with buttercup, for a great squash pie. (Similar to pumpkin pie, which I have never had.)

 

[Oaktree]

Another fan of hubbard squash here. While I didn't get them to grow as big as some of the ones you see in the supermarket, but they were still pretty good sized. You're right, you do almost need an ax to cut one. Maybe 30 years ago when I was between jobs, I worked p/t in the produce dept at a Hannaford, and we had this huge double-handed knife we'd use to cut them with.
Lately, we've been planting some unknown variety of squash...looks kind of like a buttercup except that it's orange. My sister gave us one about 10 years ago, and I just saved some seeds and re-plant them every year. Very tasty.

As far as pies go, my wife usually makes a few squash pies each year. Squash is much denser and less watery than pumpkin, and IMHO makes a better pie.