can anyone tell me what I have done wrong? I harvested what I thought would be a good crop of various squashes in autumn of last year, but they're all like solid granite; not only are they inedible, I can't even cut into them with a carving knife - help!

i harvested a good crop also but mine
are rotting only a few butter nut left i must not of dried them properly

Butternut are not the best keepers.
All stored squash must be kept frost free but cool.

Unless you are really short of freezer space, I suggest you store the fruit as future soup ingredients as they lose little in that process.

I find that the skin is the main barrier to cutting into them - both making the initial incision and also trimming the skin off - is it just this?

Whilst a carving knife should work (longer handle gives better leverage) you could try a Stanley knife.


Can you tell us what variety you grew, what colour the flesh is like and how you have tried to cook them?

Were they grown from packet seed or saved seed?

MKPoshfan

Have you actually got into one and found it not fit to eat?

Pumpkins and squashes lose moisture if properly stored, and become denser and sweeter. If yours are hard that should mean they are good - what you dn't want is soft and decaying.

I would never use a true carving knife to get into a squash - too long and flexible, A heavy cook's knife or a cleaver (used carefully) will usually do the trick.

I store Crown Prince and they are difficult to get into, but well worth the effort.

Crown Prince are, frankly, dangerous to get into, but worth the effort.

I use a short Sabatier vegetable knife, about 3" blade and with a controlled vertical, but 20 degree top-right out-leaning, slowmotion stab, followed by a back and forth drag for a two to three inch cut, repeated to make a pentagram to octogram around the stalk.
Pry out the resulting plug, all the cuts need to have met.
Use a strong soup spoon to deseed the cavity and underside of the plug.
Replace the plug removing the stalk.
Bake plug side down on a baking tray until a skewer will pass right through with ease.
Don't let it burn as that makes it taste rank, the hot flesh can be scooped out of the skin, it is easier if you at least quarter the cooked squash and be careful, hot squash sticks to skin.

They can be peeled, but not with a peeler. You have to segment it like an orange then use a sharp knife on a strong board to slice-peel each segment in two passes, turning over for the second pass.

Butternet I peel witha potato peeler, top & tail, then bisect with a Sabatier cooks knife, deseed with a soup spoon then chunk to suit what I intend to use it for.

Usually we have no difficulty storing squashes - the skin is meant to harden so that the fruits keep for longer.

This year however some fruits have gone mouldy no doubt diue to exceptional weather conditions.

I sowed a packet of mixed squash seeds; fresh last year. I have tried to cut into one of them with a carving knife, without success; no, I haven't cooked one of them for the simple reason that they are completely impossible! Most of them are yellow and ball shaped, about 4/5 inches across. Two or three are butternut types. There is one massive dark green one about a foot long. There doesn't seem to be any realistic chance of rotting either - but I feel very strongly tempted to dump them all in the council 'green-waste' collection bin.

I always thought that a very hard skin signified that the squash had been properly cured, once picked & stored, and that the hard skin was nature's way of preserving it.

We store our winter squashes in a cool dry garage. The easiest ones to cut open are the small ones such as Sweet Dumpling and even they have a pretty hard skin. We cut ours either with a very sharp Sabatier knife. (using thick protective gloves in case of a knife slipping). On one occasion we had to take a sharp chisel and hammer to crack open a Crown Prince because the skin was so hard, but the flesh inside was still perfectly preserved.

As for removing the skin, we mostly eat our winter squashes baked/roasted and find that it's easier to roast the chunks with the skin on. It's far easier to remove once it has been roasted.

so if I baked one of these whole I might be able to get into it? and in that case, how long do I cook it for please?

As I detailed in an earlier post, you will need to deseed.

MKposhFan - Have never baked a whole squash, but large chunks take between 30 - 45 minutes in a fan oven, using the same temperature as for roast potatoes. If you leave the seeds it, they might possibly impart a bitter taste.

oh well looks like the green waste bin it is - what a shame! how to waste my time not to mention my allotment space...........