Generally, winter squash will keep for 2 - 6 months just on its own, and my understanding is that freezing is more what one does when it does start to go off, or when dealing with some enormous squash that has way too much flesh to eat in a reasonable period.

I never add water when roasting squash. Rinse off, cut in half, scoop the seeds, turn upside down in a dish and 350º for an hour.

Hi David,
If I picked it last Saturday, is it too soon to freeze some of it? I didn't know if it had so just sit awhile:
I don't have a good storage place for it, so I'm going to freeze alot of it.
Thanks!

If the rinds are fully hardened (won't mark with a sharp thumbnail) then you can do as you wish with them. But since flavor improves with storage, you know some of them at least can just be stored for months on any closet shelf or even in a box under the bed. ;)

Dave

Chilling (I mean garage temperatures or other cool storage) increases sweetness and as Dave said, improves flavor, so aging for a while is optimal.

If you do keep squash, wash with a solution 1:10 of bleach to water. That kills any bacteria on the rind and improves the keeping qualities.

We roast our big Hubbards without added water. Depending upon the garden year, you may find there's a lot of water in the flesh anyway.

Carol

I agree, storing squash improves the flavor, but it's perfectly safe to bake them now and freeze them if you don't have any storage otherwise. You will give up some of the sweetness in doing that so quickly.

I never add water to roasting squash either. I do sometimes roast slices with a drizzle of maple syrup and a sprinkle of chipotle powder. There's never enough left to freeze. (grin)

Annie

Thanks everyone,
I prepared a few for roasting and freezing today, but unfortunately, 2 of them were really unripe. I gave them to the chickens.
I'm glad to hear that they continue to sweeten, as I read somewhere else today that they don't ripen any more after being picked.
Does any of that bleach get into the squash?
I'm starting to be able to eyeball the difference in color between the most ripe and the less ripened........which is a very useful thing!
Thanks for your help.
P.S. I just read somewhere that they use a submersible mixer/blender instead of a food mill for their winter squash. That sounds much easier and cleaner, so I'm going to try that today too.

LOL, I meant "immersion blender".

The bleach doesn't get into the squash. If you think about it, washing the squash is a very good idea, regardless of whether you store it or just consume immediately.

When you cut open the squash, the knife blade carries any bacteria on the skin into the meat, so there is a potential contamination problem there. The same is true of melons. Melons are notorious for bacterial contamination on the rind.

Carol

And if you want a thicker puree, you might try straining it for a day or so over cheesecloth (after pureeing). I usually do this to get a thickness more closely approximating that of canned pumpkin.

I still have something like 4 quarts of frozen squash in the freezer from last year-- I have vowed to finish it before processing any of the new squash from this year. If you notice an unnaturally orange woman walking around southern Indiana, that would be me. ;)

Thanks Carol and Joann.
LOL joann. I once worked with a woman who ate way too many carrots and yes, she was yellow!
I was thinking about doing that too........straining it for awhile before using it (for pies).
I did use my immersion blender on the puree and it did a great job and much less mess than using the food mill.
I'm going to weigh my biggest butternut squash. I think its probably at least 10#!

My question is in the same line as catherinet, so I hope you don't mind if I jump in. I didn't want to add a new question as it seems that risks bumping off another thread.

I have the same problem as catherinet, no place to store squash. Too hot, too cold....

They have been threating a killing frost for about 2 weeks and all my squash didn't pass the fingernail test so at night I covered the squash itself with buckets. I didn't have anything to cover the vines with as I used up all my materials covering other things. We got the killing frost last night and I just picked them this morning. About 1/2 of them pass the fingernail test and the rest are hard, but not as hard as that. Does that mean they are wasted?

Hopefully the buckets protected them enough from the cold. I stored some in the garage last year but they froze. Maybe I can put some in a cooler and cover with blankets or something to give them time to cure???