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Spaghetti squash seedling7/2/2023 ![]() Next, go Asian by using spaghetti squash as a substitute for cellophane noodles in a hot and sour soup. The first spaghetti squash recipe to try is also the simplest: Toss hot spaghetti squash with butter, salt and pepper, and top with a sprinkling of sharp cheese. Strain off the liquid that accumulates in the container. When cool enough to handle, a fork is used to tease out the strands, which can be refrigerated until you are ready to use them in a recipe. ![]() Traditionally, a clean squash is cut in half and placed cut side down in a large baking pan to which a cup of water is added, and baked for about 30 minutes, or until just done. The cooking process naturally causes the flesh of spaghetti squash to separate into noodle-like strands. This is not very long, so it is best to cook and eat spaghetti squash before moving on to butternuts and other winter squash that store much longer. When harvested with a stub of stem attached and allowed to harden under warm conditions for a few weeks, spaghetti squash will keep for up to three months if stored in a cool, dry place. Starting seeds indoors, so you can set out stocky three-week-old seedlings as soon as the weather warms in early summer, can help insure a good crop in cool climates.Īssuming things go well, each plant will produce four to five fruits, which should be cut and cured like pumpkins and other winter squash. You will need to grow at least four healthy plants to have enough flowers blooming at once to get good pollination, or simply grow another type of summer squash nearby to increase the pollen supply. Like other squash, spaghetti squash produces male and female flowers, which are typically pollinated by bees. Spaghetti squash thrive when grown in a thoughtfully-composed pile of rotting leaves, manure, soil and composted garden waste. Growing spaghetti squash is especially easy of you choose your site ahead of time, and create a customized compost pile into which spaghetti squash seedlings can be planted come spring. Where space is tight, small-fruited varieties can be trained to grow up a fence or trellis. To accommodate the long vines, I suggest growing spaghetti squash outside the garden, where the vines can temporarily cover a section of lawn you don't want to mow. In North America, the supplemental stems serve as the plants' back-up plan should squash vine borers kill the plant's primary crown. Most open-pollinated varieties eagerly run 15 feet (5 meters), often developing supplemental roots where stems come into contact with moist ground. Originating in Mexico, spaghetti squash were probably first grown as a companion crops, to cover the ground between hills of corn. ![]() Closely related to summer squash (young spaghetti squash fruits look like short, stout zucchinis), spaghetti squash mature faster than most other winter squash, producing mature fruits about eight weeks after planting. Most of today's trendiest food labels apply to spaghetti squash – gluten free, low carbohydrate, high in vitamins and fiber, and often locally-grown. Surely such calamities have befallen others, because many cooks and gardeners are trying spaghetti squash for the first time. Before baking, steaming or microwaving spaghetti squash, they should be cut in half. Note: The safest way to cook a whole spaghetti squash is to use a slow cooker. A few minutes after putting a prime specimen in her microwave, it exploded like a bomb, blew open the microwave door and sprayed half the kitchen with sticky strands of squash. Recently my young friend Leah was traumatized by a spaghetti squash. ![]()
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