Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Hey, Free Food!

Yesterday, I cooked and ate an acorn squash from the plant that grew from the old compost bin. I wish I could say it was great, but it was just OK.

"What did you expect?" said Mr. Flossie. "It grew out of garbage."

I scoffed mightily at him being so out of touch with nature, but continued to wonder why it was just OK. I was perhaps overly excited and picked it too soon. The Interweb said to pick an acorn squash when the yellow dot on the skin turns orange. I have to confess it was still mostly yellow. Also, this may be an old plant that has been in the compost bin for years. (I vaguely recall a squash plant appearing last year, but not producing any squash.) Except aren't squash plants annuals? Maybe it's a mutant.

One site on the Internets that I read too late said that winter squash should cure in the sun for seven to ten days after harvesting. Maybe I'll try that next time.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would have eaten the squash too soon as well (except that I hate squash). I've decided on a new moniker. I actually thought of it while looking at a plate of butternut squash ravioli. Here are its reasons for being: (1) Flossie and Buttercup could be the names of prized cows or highly-skilled domestic goddesses. (2) Buttercup was my favorite PowderPuff Girl (my brother was Bubbles, hence the nickname). (3) I like that song. Cheers!

flossie said...

Hey, Buttercup. Now we just need another prize cow named Daisy.

Mike said...

Wait on the squash! They do need the orange to appear. The other thing is how to fix it. I tend to cut them in half and then put them in a pan with water and do them in the microwave for at least 7 minutes, usually more to get them tender.

Of course the key is how to eat, which is to slather them in butter and brown sugar...

flossie said...

Thanks, Mike! There's another squash on the vine, and I'll try to be more patient with this one.