by Pete Zuck, R&D, Vegetable Product Manager
» Watch Pete's New Video-Recipe for Miso-Glazed Kabocha Squash
Just as we reach the last few weeks of another Maine winter,
our once seemingly boundless supplies of storage crops are dwindling. For those
of us whose storage conditions are less than ideal, some of the fussier items are in serious jeopardy by
now. The basement is a few degrees too warm? Perhaps your potatoes have begun
to sprout. The fridge’s “crisper” is a bit too dry? Maybe the carrots have lost
their crunch. As for those storage onions, you never know what you might find
when you slice them open.
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| Johnny's-Bred 'Winter Sweet' Kabocha Squash |
One crop that is easy for almost anyone to store successfully,
however, is winter
squash. A good butternut or kabocha will stay delicious well into the
spring, stored at what most Mainers consider “room temperature” for this time
of year – about 60ºF/16ºC. In fact, some of the longer-storing varieties are
just beginning to reach peak flavor as the dark nadir of the winter solstice
sets in — refer to our Winter
Squash Curing & Storage Chart for specifics.
Because it’s so reliable, we Mainers tend to put up a lot of
squash each fall. While it’s great to have a dependable, highly nutritious food
source on hand, by March it gets to be a little redundant on the menu. Winter
staples like mashed butternut and squash soup use up a lot of material, but they
can get tiresome. With each passing potluck, our friends grow more indifferent
to our offerings.
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| Pete Zuck, Johnny's R&D Vegetable Product Manager |
The key, I’ve found, is to break away from our traditional
vision of squash. Let’s face it; many Americans still equate squash with baby
food — maybe they’ve only ever had it one way — mashed. And even then, it is often not the most flavorful type or
variety, or given the simple enhancements it needs to really impress. We tend
to stick with butternut as our go-to storage squash. While there is nothing
wrong with this type (and a well-bred butternut can
be delightful on its own — our award-winning Butterscotch,
for instance), most butternuts are better suited as ingredients in a broader
recipe, whereas other types are actually much better as stand-alone dishes.
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| Glaze Ingredients |
A couple of years ago, I really discovered kabocha squash.
It helped that I was working for a company known for producing some of the
best-eating varieties, with vast fields of them just a short walk from the
break room. I credit our company founder, Rob Johnston, with turning me on to
kabocha. When I started working here, Rob would often sit down to lunch with a
big wedge of Winter
Sweet or another of his elegant creations, adorned with nothing but salt,
pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. As I adopted this practice myself, I
quickly began to appreciate how different and wonderful kabocha squash is. The
dry texture ate more like a baked potato than like the mealy mush I was used
to. There were subtle flavors in the background that reminded me of maple syrup
and spiced rum. It was sweeter than butternut, and I didn’t even have to peel
the skin off!
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| Miso-glazed Kabocha Squash Quick, Easy, Nutritious, DELICIOUS! |
This time of year, I cook a big kabocha most Sunday nights,
then pop it in the fridge and reheat it each morning for a simple
squash-and-eggs breakfast. I just follow Rob’s simple recipe (although I prefer
butter to olive oil), and I find it’s great fuel for the morning routine. It’s
a sort of sweet twist on hash browns, with perhaps a healthier starch profile,
too.
It is not surprising that kabocha is the squash-of-record in
Japan. The Japanese market is very
particular about eating quality in vegetables. The sweet corn must be tender
and highly sweet, with just a hint of a floral accent. The tomatoes, preferably
pink, must be low in acid and high in umami,
a flavor concept embodying “pleasant savoriness,” first defined in Japan over a
century ago. It is a gourmand culture, and their chosen winter squash is
kabocha. (To learn why some winter squash and edible pumpkins taste so much better
than others, read Eating
Quality in Winter Squashes, with an explanation by Dr. J. Brent Loy, a
classical plant breeder with whom Rob Johnston has collaborated for over three
decades.)
In searching for ways to experience squash the way they do
in Japan, I’ve been trying a few variations on miso-glazed kabocha. The concept
is simple and the recipe adjustable, and it highlights everything that’s so
great about this squash. It incorporates the core flavors of sweet, sour, salty
— and probably umami (but I’m not
qualified to say for sure). And, it’s the perfect way to share and celebrate the
last of last year’s winter squash, as we plan for the upcoming planting season.
I hope you enjoy it enough to try it six different ways.
