Produce Spotlight: Butternut Squash

Butternut squash is commonly thought of as a hard-to-cut squash that’s difficult to work with. Butternut squash is a member of the cucurbitaceae family otherwise known as the melon family. The variety is actually local to the area: the butternut squash was first produced in 1944 in Stow, Massachusetts by Charles Legget after he cross bred pumpkins and gooseneck squashes. Squash in general originated from Mexico and Central America such as Guatemala with roots in Egypt. However, most butternut squash that is grown today is from Brazil, Portugal, or Florida.

Nutritional Information

MacronutrientsAmount (grams)% Daily Value
Total Fat.1 g0%
Total Carbohydrate12 g4%
Dietary Fiber2 g7%
Sugar2 g0%
Protein1 g2%
MicronutrientsAmount% Daily Value
Vitamin A10630 amu212%
Vitamin C21 mg35%
Vitamin B-6.2 mg10%
Potassium352 mg10%
Magnesium34 mg8%
Calcium48 mg4%
Iron.7 mg3%

Cooking and Flavors

Butternut squash has a subtle sweet and buttery flavor with a hint of nuttiness, close to the taste of sweet potatoes. It is common in soups, winter stews, ravioli, or by itself.

Other winter squash include  acorn, bonbon, buttercup, carnival, carving pumpkin, cheese pumpkin, delicata, honey bear, honeynut, hubbard, kabocha, pink banana jumbo, red kuri, spaghetti, sugar pumpkin, sunshine kabocha, sweet dumpling, turban, yokohama,

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