Ripening Squash

[Westi]

Had to take some squash off lottie as seemed a little cold snap blitzed the plants (only 1/2 of the bed which is sheltered so even weirder). Anyhow they are not quite ripe although a good size; colour wise obviously not ready. They are in the greenhouse - how long & is it the best place to ripen them - or will they even ripen at all? It is my QLD Blue that is not ready. (Sorry I should probably know the answer to this but usually get them to ripen on the plant so first experience of under ripe fruit)

Westi

[peter]

Sorry, but the answer is, "Depends how ripe they were to start wih.".

Too immature and they'll wither, wrinkle & rot.
Almost there and they'll ripen up ok, not as good as on the plant though.

[Westi]

Thanks Peter - I think nearly there considering the size - fingers crossed! It's a fairly sweet variety so can loose some condition & still be better than some of the others.

Westi

[Colin Miles]

I put my Crown Prince and Hunter Butternut squash into my greenhouse to ripen off last year and this worked fine. Intend to do the same this year though I have only 3 of the Invincible/Crown Prince and some very small, very late Squashkin.

[Primrose]

We have just started to eat a butternut squash which was a very late ripener from last autumn & has been stored in our garage since last November. Interestingly, the flavour is just about adequately sweet when roasted, which I suspect concentrates the sugars in it, but when boiled it is totally inspid and practically inedible. So we will either have to roast it all, or throw it away because I suspect even currying it will not improve the eating quality/flavour. .

We have several winter squashes bought recently from a farm shop who said their crop has been awful this year so I suspect that from a sweetness point of view, they will all be disappointing. The ones I have were probably harvested as late as they dared to, and I'm not sure whether trying to temper and ripen them off indoors in whatever sunny positions we can find will do very much to improve their flavour and sweetness. Like sun ripened tomatoes, ripening in an artificial environment will probably do very little to improve their quality & flavour.

[Westi]

Thankfully there are plenty of recipes for roasted soups as well..thought that would be an option. I have already tried an under ripe QLD Blue roasted & blitzed in a soup & was OK but the colour wasn't as good. Made another batch & put in sweet potato - the eye does guide the flavour! So much better - sweetness from the SP rounded off the roasted flavour.

Westi

[Primrose]

Does anybody have any idea whether unripe squash are better matured in a garage or shed or whether putting them in a sunny place indoors in a greenhouse or sunny living room is the better option? I'm not sure whether there is any quality difference between the two because unripe tomatoes will ripen eventually wherever you put them indoors, so does being in a sunny room help to improve the flavour?

[peter]

Sunshine is supposed to help cure the skin, from my experience it does so.

[Beryl]

I've put all my Metro butternuts in the greenhouse on the top slatted shelf. I keep turning them every few days and they seem to ripening fine.
I'm not an expert on squash but the couple I've eaten have been fine diced and cooked in a little butter.

Beryl.