Jumbo Pink Banana Squash

Heirloom Jumbo Pink Banana Squash is a large, orangey-salmon-pink colored, oblong, banana-shaped winter squash. Fruit can weigh over 40 pounds. The variety we grow is over 100 years old.

How does it taste?
This variety is fine-flavored with sweet orange flesh that is superbly fine tasting and an excellent substitute for pumpkin in any recipe. Use it for roasting, soups, stews, pies, baking, making homemade baby food and more. Home made puree freezes beautifully for use later.

How do we roast, puree and process for use in making pies, breads, muffins, scones, baby food, etc.?
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.

On a large cutting board, carefully cut the squash in half lengthwise starting on one side of the stem, cutting outward and away from the stem around the squash to the bottom center. NOTE: Do not try to cut thru the stem, you may damage your knife. Turn the squash over and repeat on the other side of the stem until your knife meets the original cut at the bottom center. Use both hands to grasp the bottom of each half of the squash and pull apart. The stem may still be attached to either side and should be fairly easy to snap off at this point.

Scoop out all the seeds and stringy guts until the inside walls of the flesh are smooth.

Depending on the size and shape of your squash as well as the size of your oven and baking sheets, you may need to cut each half of the squash into smaller, more manageable size pieces. For example, I had a 16 pound squash in a shape where the halves would not fit on my baking sheet(s), so I cut each side in half (making a total of 4 pieces) that I could arrange on 2 large baking sheets. You may need to cut in more or less pieces.

Sprinkle the pieces lightly with salt. Note: Salt is optional, so if you don't want it, don't like it or cant have it, don't use it.

Place the squash pieces flesh side down on parchment lined baking sheet(s) and place into the preheated oven. Depending on the size of your squash pieces, you'll want to roast the squash approximately an hour +/-. You can tell the squash is done when the skin appears a bit wrinkly and you can easily pierce the squash all the way through in several places with a knife.

Once the squash is done, allow it to cool. Once cooled, scoop the soft cooked flesh into your food processor or mixing bowl and puree until smooth.

You may now use the puree in any recipe calling for pumpkin puree. You may also measure the puree into freezer bags. The puree freezes beautifully and will keep for 3-6 months or more.

TIP: When freezing the puree, measure and store in the amounts you typically use in your recipes. For example, I use 2 cups of puree to make 1 pie OR 2 loaves of "squash spice" bread. So I typically put 2 cups or 4 cups of puree into each freezer bag. That way I'm using all the puree and not wasting any.