It is also a delicious addition to soups and stews, to which it contributes the celery flavor, but the more substantial texture of a root vegetable. Then store them in a cool dry place. The squash should keep until at least the following spring. Although a large summer squash is sure to be tough and fibrous, the bigger a winter squash is, the better. It shows the squash has been left to age for a long time on the vine, allowing natural sugars to form and assuring that the flesh will be sweet and tender.
Winter squash display a great variety of colors and shapes.
The Hubbard ranges from dark green to lichen-green to yellow. It has a bulbous end, an elongated neck, and grows to be about a foot long. The dark green acorn squash is roughly acorn shaped and has deep ridges running from stem to tip. It may be found in single-serving sizes, and this makes it particularly well suited to preparations, like baking and stuffing, which call for the squash to be served in its shell. When steamed, spaghetti squash separates into strands that resemble short lengths of pasta.