Hubbard Squash and pumpkin Goodies

At one point we became members of a 4H group… for a fund raiser they would make pumpkin pies to sell at a annual fall festival. People swarmed over to our table to get these homemade pumpkin pie’s as if they were something really special. Being new to the group I couldn’t figure out what was so interesting about these pies… since it didn’t looked any different from any other pumpkin pie I’ve seen in the local supermarket. So I had to ask them what the secret was… and they shared it with me, it was Hubbard Squash.

First of all I have never heard of that style squash… and when I went to look for it here in New Jersey I had a hard time finding it. One fall afternoon we were in Pennsylvania… and I spotted this weird looking blue colored squash, when I asked them what the name of it was lo and behold it was “the Hubbard squash”. Absolutely overjoyed that I found it… I picked it up for just a couple of dollars and brought it home.

At first glance I thought I would just cut it into chunks and cook it down like I would for a pumpkin. There was no way in the world unless I got an axe that I could actually cut into this thing. So I decided to put the whole thing in the oven and cook it down and it took about 12 hours. So I have continued doing this for the past 12 years or so.

One of our favorite outings is to go to Pennsylvania and hit the Amish farm markets in the Fall. There I can get a 5 to 7 pounds Hubbard Squash… anywhere from $3 to $5 dollars. This is a good size to make several loaves of bread, muffins, soup and or cookies. It freezes well… And taste just like pumpkin but even better!

Here are a few pictures of it going into the oven, what it looks like coming out of the oven, cutting it open and scooping up the pulp etc. I will put it in freezer bags… and freeze it for when I need to bake. Check out this funny looking squash… try it out and taste and see how delicious it is! Let me know if you have any good pumpkin bread recipes to share!

Before going in the oven…