When to harvest cushaw squash for juice is one question that many gardeners often ask. There are many different types of squash, all with different uses and characteristics. The best squash for eating should have enough seeds to be eaten within 24 hours of picking. One variety of hardy squash that can tolerate some drying out is the Maxima types. This is largely due to the high tolerance to drying and aging in storage conditions.
For those of you who like to make Halloween sweets, the Maxima type makes a great sweet with cinnamon and cloves. If you’re trying to avoid using salt when making these little underripe beauties, try using white vinegar instead. You can also try using lemon to make a sweet. To save time, just try not to add any additional sugar when you make a dessert with this variety of sweet, succulent fruit. To pick one that’s right for your needs, you may choose the ones with green stripes. They may look a little dark, but they’re so firm and small, you won’t even realize you’ve picked one.
There are many stories around the world about how to pick the right squash to harvest for juice or for cooking. Some suggest that you pick the small ones first because they’re the easiest to eat. Others say to pick the big ones first. Either way, it’s important to know the best times to pick green striped cushaw squash. It all depends on your situation, your personal taste, and the place where you got them.
When to harvest cushaw squash for juice dates back to when early man began cultivating crops. Before artificial fertilizers were used, wild crops were milled into food for consumption. Grains like wheat and barley were cultivated to provide food and other resources. Cushaw squash belong to a different group of such grains, so some people believe they should be harvested in their natural state. Others don’t mind the process, but there are reasons why any of this is relevant when to harvest cushaw squash for juice:
Although no specific time frame has been agreed upon when to harvest cushaw squash for juice, it’s generally agreed that you should pick them as soon as you can. While they grow quickly, they also have a tendency to produce an abundance of seeds, so getting more than you can consume at once is not recommended. Ideally, pick one squash at a time.
When picking out a particular squash, pick one that’s of the same size. This is especially true if you plan to store the mushy ones in a refrigerator. The seeds from bigger squash tend to stay moist longer, and you might need to add water or another kind of liquid, like milk, in order to get the seeds’ moisture level high enough to germinate. Smaller varieties, however, won’t need as much extra attention, so you can probably just dump them in a blender and blend until they’re a bit moist.
Once you’ve picked your squash, remove it from its shell and let it cool down. You can do this by placing it in a bowl of cold water, or else putting it in a pot with a lid, and turning it on the stove for about fifteen minutes. Be sure to keep the lid closed tightly, as the hot juices can boil up in an enclosed pot. You can taste the squash once it’s cooled down for a few days, and check for doneness: if it sounds hollow, you can cut it up into chunks, and freeze those chunks individually, since they won’t always taste the same as they did when they were still intact. When you’re ready to use your cushaw squash for juicing, cut it into one-inch chunks and place them in a blender, adding some fresh vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, or any other green vegetables will do), a few drops of oil and a bit of salt. Puree until smooth and creamy, then strain out the seeds and put into your juicer.
Squash seeds will remain in the squash until you use them, but the cooking process will hasten their disintegration. If you want, you can separate the seeds from the squash and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also freeze the squash (also called moussaka) and use it in pasta sauces, soups, or casseroles whenever you like. Your friends and family will love eating a warm, filled, stuffed, juicy, fresh-from-the-spoils cushaw squash.
