Butternut squash

Butternut

What it is

Unusually for a vegetable, it has a birth certificate: Charles Leggett bred it in Stow, Massachusetts in 1944, aiming for something sweeter than the squashes then grown. He said it was smooth as butter and sweet as a nut, and named it on the spot.

In the kitchen

The neck is solid flesh and the base is all seed. Cut them apart and treat them as two different vegetables.

Goes with

Sage Butter Nutmeg Chestnut Cream Ginger Parmesan Hazelnut

Same species

Courgette flower Kabocha Muscade de Provence squash Pattypan squash Red kuri squash Pumpkin

In season alongside

Borlotti bean Brussels sprout Cauliflower Coco de Paimpol Earth chestnut Jerusalem artichoke

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