Yellow Squash has been a favorite veggie of mine since I was a child. This year’s plants have just started producing what looks to be a bumper crop.
Our plants are huge this summer. I think it must be the chicken litter-as well as the extra rain we’ve been getting.
I ask Pap and Granny if their parents grew yellow squash when they were kids. Granny said the state took their garden to build the new 4-lane, and she couldn’t remember what her mother planted before that.
Pap said-they grew a different kind of squash. By his description-I’d guess it was a Cushaw. He remembered it lasted longer than yellow squash, was a light orange tan color and seemed tougher like a pumpkin. His mother cubed it then fried it with sugar and water-kinda like sweet potatoes.
Seems everyone in our area grows yellow squash now-Pap said it was in the early 60’s or 70’s when folks here started growing yellow squash.
In the follow days drop back by the Blind Pig to:
- See how to cook squash in the traditional Appalachian way (fried)
- See how to make old fashioned Squash Relish (so good in the winter)
- Come along with me as I try frying squash blooms for the first time ( I keep hearing about folks who do this and want to see if it’s worth the trouble)
- Come along as I try drying squash for the first time (when I was a little girl-I so wanted to be a Cherokee Indian-I know they dried squash)
Do you plant Yellow Squash? Have you ever planted any other varieties of Squash?
Tipper
we used to grow cushaws till i was left by myself and cant tend a garden , they can be kept(in a cool place)all winter , sliced and fried
i had 4 plants of zucchine this yr and only had one squash , i guess the weather got to them
i love the patty pan kind
someone told me to fry the small yellow crooked neck ones just like apples , just have to try i guess
good luck gardeners
My grandma fried pumpkin blossoms. I loved them, but it might be because of the pound of bacon grease she fried them in. LOL
I tried planting yellow squash, but all of our squash family grew nice mold and died.
I’ve missed this site. Must come back daily. 🙂
When I was a kid, we always had yellow squash. My garden is so tiny now that I only do tomatoes, peppers and sometimes cucumbers. Zucchini is more common here and where I’m from, but yellow is a close second. I was just talking to a friend this evening. They have two plants, and it will be more than they can use, so I’ll send her here to check it out!
Oh my! Those are some beautiful squash and yellow squash is my all time favorite. When our landlord takes his tenants to Cactus Willie’s for dinner (twice a year), I take as much as I can eat from the vegetable medley. I just love that sweet fresh taste. Glad to hear yours are coming up so well. Can’t wait to hear what you think of frying the squash flowers. Never tried them before, but heard about it once. xxoo
Growing up we only ever had fried squash or fried squash blossoms, which if done right, is about as good as it gets, but over the past couple of years we saw someone grilling squash and thought we’d try it. Take a couple of yellow “squarsh” slice them into rounds about a half inch thick, lightly sprinkle them with oil (we use olive oil) and salt and pepper. Then grill them until you get some grill marks on them, about 10 minutes. They are really quite good, I may like this better than fried if that is possible.
I also like pasta and squash ribbons. With a veggie peeled, just cut the squash longways into ribbons, throw into cooked spaghetti, and put some chopped garlic, lemon juice and olive oil on it to coat. The hot noodles cook the squash in a few minutes.
I just love squash of all types, yellow crookneck is probably my favorite though. Talking about squash reminds me of my Uncle Beads. Uncle Beads likes “skeeny scorches” the best, that is zucchini squash to all those who aren’t versed in Uncle Beads speak!lol.
I don’t known when squash came to the mountain, it was there before my time.
You always have the best posts.
I do enjoy the summer squash! My Mon used to stew it with onions and butter. It’s very good that way. I like it fried also and sauteed with other vegetables.
I like baked stuffed squash also/ The stuffed squash freezes pretty good .
I have never eaten the blooms so am anxious to hear about that.
My Dad, who incidentally was a better cook than my Mon, used to batter and fry Polk shoots and they were good. If course I like most anything fried!
I have always wondered about the fried squash blooms, and am excited to learn more about them through you. I planted exactly two squash plants this year and got one little, tiny squash before they died! Grocery store, here I come.
I love crook neck squash. Dredged in corn meal and flour. Crispy Golden Brown yummyness. I got a late start on them but they are hanging in there and growing.The 100 degree heat we are having hasn’t helped but I relocated them under a small shade tree the other day and they seem to be doing a little better. I am going to put them in bigger pots and see what happens. Wish me luck.
Tipper,
It sure looks like you’ve got a bumper crop of squash this year. My favorite is butternut squash.
Dad used to grow acorn squash and a couple of other varieties. It’s been so long that I’ve forgotten, but do know he grew a couple of varieties.
Enjoyed your post, as always and look forward to hearing about how the squash blossoms cook up.
Blessings,
Mary
Squash relish was something my grandmother made up until her 90’s. I love it fried, girl my mouth is watering!
I missed so much while I was away, Tipper!
You must feel exhuberant with the yield!
I’ve never planted squash, but do I love it! Time to raid the fridg! 😉
Tipper, You get an A + for that squash in your garden.
I did not like squash as a child, but I can say it is now my favorite summer vegetable. I love it best in a casserole with onions and cheddar cheese, eggs and some breading that makes it slice into squares like dressing. I first learned to make it that way after eating it at the folk school.
Yes, I have planted the yellow like yours this year and it too is doing well. I also have zucchini and a white scalloped looking squash that I can’t remember the name to save my life. I slice the squash and brush each side with olive oil, salt and pepper it, then grill it on the grill. I also have a wonderful squash cake recipe using the yellow sqaush on my cooking blog. My husband will not eat squash, but he loves this cake. It is a rather old recipe…the squash makes it so moist! You can find it by going to this link, My Country Kitchen http://countrykitchenkat.blogspot.com and look for Squash Cake recipe. Have a wonderful July 4th! blessings,Kathleen
Squash is a versatile vegetable. I will have to try it fried. We usually steam it.
Hi Tipper! Here in the Ouachitas, everyone grows yellow squash, straight neck and crook neck. Yellow squash and zuchinni are the only kinds that I’ve ever grown, but when I was a kid my folks used to grow some sort of winter squash. I haven’t had it in years.
We were a little behind on planting, so we’re still waiting for our first skillet of fried squash!
Oh I love fried squash. So do my boys. I dredge them in buttermilk and then in this mix called “Vegetable Frier” by House of Autry. yum, yum, yum!
up north here our growing season starts out kinda late.didn’t put anything in the ground until memorial day and still got slammed with some heavy frosts throughout june. my broccolli and stuff has done well but mark’s poor tomatoes have suffered but are still hanging in there. we had to crank up the furnace today, just couldnt handle the 65 degrees in the house anymore, maybe will have to run tomarrow but after that is supposed to warm up again. i would like to get some swimming in at pentoga park before the summer is over…good for knees and whole body for that matter. been having some health issues and i think it all comes down to…
seems i have a vitD defishencee (know i spelt that one wrong, decided to have some fun with it)…have never lived anywhere that got so little sun as up here. in hawaii just hanging out the clothes or messing in the yard was enough for my body to make its own vit d…so my nephrologist has me on a supplement. maybe my bp will come down and the muscle aches will greatly lessen…i couldnt figure out why all this stuff was happening only after i moved here and it all might be because i am not getting enough sunlight to make vit d. what a trip huh?
Beautiful squash. I just wrote a post about our squash.
🙂
Looking forward to the squash relish recipe. I love yellow squash, too!
We grow yellow squash, but around here lots of people grow zucchini. I fry it, make casseroles with it, squash cakes (kinda like potato cakes), and squash bread (kinda like banana bread). Sometimes I’ll just chop it up and fry it with potatoes and onions. It’s a very versatile vegetable.
I am growing both yellow squash and zucchini. I really like making a cake out of them. And I dehydrated them last year to pop in stews.
We grill yellow squash all the time – slice in half lengthwise – smear with olive oil – grill cut side down – when they are fork tender sprinkle with salt pepper and spread roasted garlic or butter (i use both)
I love yellow squash fried. My plants are getting big, just not producing yet. We had a late snow season and then rain with no sunshine for so long. I have planted yellow and zucchini, but didn’t plant zucchini this year. You guys are making me hungry!!! Nothing like fried squash, okra, fresh sliced onion, tomato, a steaming piece of cornbread, and a tall glass of sweet iced tea!
We plant yellow straight neck, zucchini and cushaw squash. I love making cushaw squash pies (in place of pumpkin). they keep forever. We baked our last squash pie (from last year’s squash) about 2 weeks ago. We just stored the whole squash in a spot in our kitchen…no special treatment…
I love yellow and zuchinni squash this way-
Slice it up and boil it until soft- drain water and add a big dollop of Sour cream and mix together- a sprinkling of Lawry Seasoning salt is also really good on top
Ohhhh…I moved my blog and thought I’d lost you, but I found you again! Yea!
We also have a bumper crop of squash. I love it! We’ve been eating fried squash and fried green tomatoes…a lot! And I have a really good squash casserole recipe that my MIL makes. She also cans it and uses it to make the casserole in the winter. Squash, okra, and tomatoes are my favorite things from the garden…I love peas too, but I don’t have enough room to grow them (I’ll have to go to the farmer’s market…helps the economy)!
Tipper: I have grown yellow but I always tend to go back to zuchini. They are good and grow well. It will be a few more weeks and we should get a lot.
I like mine fried too, Tipper… heck, I love ANYTHING fried! LOL
Hubby doesn’t care much for it so I don’t plant any for us, but someone usually gives us some and I fry it up for myself. (I don’t have to share it with anybody! Yay!)
You garden is beautiful!
I have grown yellow crooked-necked squash and always have had success. Mom and Dad used to plant “Patty Pan” squash. As a child I could not get enough of it. She would slice, flour and fry it. Patty pan has a delicate flavor.
We planted crookneck and zucchini. This year they have produced like wild. We have already harvested about 100 squash and they are still coming. We only have a small patch of them so I’m very pleased. I did plant them too close. I had not had any squash plants grow this large so you kind of have to work to get through the plants to harvest. Our beets have come in too. Its been a good garden year!
I have pictures on my blog.
Are a Cushaw and a Butternut squash the same? I love yellow crooked neck squash. Ours come in a little earlier than yours, so we’ve had several meals with squash early this summer. I like them cooked in a covered pan on the stove top with bacon grease and onions. Bebe cooks Butternut squash with butter and it eats very much like a sweet potato. Pappy
We aren’t much of gardeners. But we love what others reap.
those yellow neck squash are so good creamed!
I don’t have a garden but I’ve got yellow squash that a couple of my quilting friends gifted me. They are having bumper crops this year too. The ones I’ve gotten so far have been huge and perfect for stewing. One friend was talking about making squash cakes (like potato cakes) and I think I’m going to give that a try this week.
Mmmm…I LOVE it! Yes, I have planted it, along with zucchini (my favorite), yellow summer squash and banana squash. It’s amazing to me how far ahead of us your growing season is. My plants are still itty bitty compared to yours and I was actually proud of how big their getting!
I planted 5 hills of yellow crook-neck squash and although they’ve bloomed like crazy I haven’t gotten very many squash. Does anybody know why some of the blooms don’t make baby squash?
I like to boil it with onions then mash it up with butter, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of sugar or Splenda. Yum! We like it fried, too, but try to avoid fried stuff.
I’m so jealous I can’t hardly stand it. I don’t have squash-when we had so much rain it just died. I replanted little pattypan squash and maybe it will do. I have lima beans coming in and soon string beans. I’d like to try my hand drying them like they do in the Foxfire book-just string them like we do pepper when we dry them. Goodnight
I like winter squash best, and buttercup the best of all the winter varieties. We really don’t have room to grow winter squash here in our small garden. We plant zucchini these days. I usually cook it with onions and tomatoes, or add it to soup. We also bake it. Not much on frying it here are our house, but a lot of people. do.
I love crooked neck squash, especially fried! I’m pretty sure my Grandma was growing it in the 40’s. It was my Grandpa’s favorite, so she cooked a plate of it for him the day she was in labor with my Daddy. She was afraid something might happen in labor, and she wanted him to have something he liked–to remember her by if she died. She and my dad were fine, but it became my dad’s favorite food, too. Maybe that isn’t a coincidence!
I love the yellow crook neck squash too! I like it fried, in casseroles, and grilled. I’ll be interested to see the other things you’re trying with it.
Yes I grow it every year.
It and Zucchini. Had a bumper crop.
It isn’t real happy right now too hot and wrong time of day shade. But it is time for it to die back around here. (Tomatos a roaring right now,they’re So Happy!) I tried Acorn squash and butternut this year. I know they are considered winter squash , but they did well. Might try a late July planting of those and see what happens. Looking forward to the squash relish.
Tipper do you can squash? I’d like to try it but I’m not sure if it cans well. blessings, marlene
We’ve been eating squash for about 3 weeks now. Carol planted yellow crook neck and zucchini in a couple of big tubs that we got from my Cuz. The minerals they feed their cattle come in the tubs and I brought a bunch home and drilled holes in them, filled ’em about 1/2 full with styrofoam and empty pop cans, filled the rest of the way with soil and she planted them up. She can tend them from her wheelchair and it’s a lot less expensive than building raised beds. Anyway, we’ve been eating crook neck and zucchini both. The squash I planted in the ground is coming on now. Those are the two we plant because those are our favorites.
Didn’t mean to write a book. I guess I’ll have to post some pictures now.
Helen
Never was a big fan of squash but, I am glad to see your plants are doing well.
Yes, I grew it this year. Not doing the best. I also plant zucchini squash.
My mom has not had very good luck with her yellow crookneck squash this year. She fixed it with a few diced onions and boiled them. I still fix them that way. I know some people fry them, but I really prefer them boiled. Your pap’s squash sounds kind of like butternut squash (although that’s a winter squash).
Hi, my dad’s squash and zucchini is coming on, too! I grate it and mix it with browned and drained hamburger and cream of chicken soup, to make a sloppy-joe-type on bread or buns. It’s kind of a down-home, all-vegetable hamburger helper! 🙂
My parents moved to Florida on a whim. They had planted a garden that year and just let it go. I remember my grandma and I going out and picking all the yellow squash. We had bushels of it. We took it down to the hospital and gave it to the cook. I still remember wondering how many days did the people in the hospital have to eat squash.(I didn’t grow to like it until I was an adult.)