Butternut squash sounds like an appealing ice cream flavour, doesn't it? But it's actually a vegetable that is still new in the farmer's market.
Came into existence only during the 1930s, Butternut squash has fast become an important part of our kitchen pantry, especially during the fall season. Like who doesn't make Butternut squash recipes during the fall? If you are one of those people who don't do that, then we need to bring you over to the right side immediately and introduce you to the wonderful world of butternut squash!
What is Butternut Squash?
If you want to start working with Butternut Squash in your kitchen, then it's important you get to know this vegetable.
But it's actually not a vegetable! That's right, botanically speaking, squash comes under the category of fruit, not vegetable.
But that's just the technical aspect, as otherwise people cook butternut squash like it's a vegetable. So don't sweat too much about this minor detail! What you should know is that butternut squash resembles pumpkin closely.
It even tastes like a pumpkin, with its sweet and nutty flavour.
What sets aside butternut squash from pumpkin is its rich orange colour and shape. Unlike the pumpkin, butternut squash is elongated and bell-like in shape. It also contains far less seeds then a pumpkin and is way easier to clean to cut and clean. This makes butternut squash an ideal replacement for pumpkin if you are on a short time to make fall recipes.
The benefits of Squashes
Butternut squash is not only a versatile and delicious cooking ingredient in any kitchen's pantry. It can also make your fall recipes a whole lot tastier and easier to make! But do you know that besides these obvious advantages butternut squash also comes with a lot of health benefits! Well if you didn't now you know! And we are going to tell you all the health facts about butternut squash so you'll be having them all year around and not just during fall!
- Most of today's world health problems are happening because our modern diet is deficient in vitamins. People just aren't having enough vegetables these days, which are the richest source of vitamins. Butternut squash is an especially good source of vitamins. More specifically vitamin A and vitamin C. Vitamin A is essential for good eye health, for keeping your bones healthy and also improving our immune system. Vitamin C is important for our immune system as well in addition to making sure our wounds heal up faster as vitamin C aids in collagen production in the human body.
- It's not just Vitamins A & C with butternut squash. They are also a rich source of Vitamin E and B! But what's so special about these vitamins? Well let's start with vitamin E first. This vitamin is an antioxidant and it can protect you against age-related diseases like Alzheimer's and even Parkinson's. On the other hand, vitamin B is connected with cell and energy production in human bodies, which makes it important for metabolism processes.
- Butternut squash are rich in both vitamins and antioxidants. These nutrients play a vital role in important bodily processes like blood regulation and reducing the rate of cellular damage and inflammation in human bodies. These things make butternut squash very effective against reducing the risk of chronic diseases.
- Although modern medical science has triumphed over so many fatal diseases, cancer still remains to be one disease that continues to elude us. The best cure for cancer is to simply prevent getting it. Past research has shown that eating foods that are rich in antioxidants and carotenoids can reduce the development of cancerous cells in the human body and also strengthen our immune system. Which makes butternut squash especially important to include in our diet as it contains both antioxidants and carotenoids. You can reduce your chance of getting cancer by 13% if you include foods like butter squash in your regular diet!
- Vegetables have always been hailed as good for one's heart health. Yellow and red colour foods especially are said to be great for keeping one's heart healthy. And can you guess what colour butternut squash is? But it's just not the colour that makes butternut squash good for your heart. It's the antioxidants that you can get by eating butternut squash which reduces all your chances of getting a heart disease! And it doesn't just stop with healthy antioxidants as the carotenoids in the butternut squash also aids in good heart health by reducing inflammation and encouraging good blood flow in our bodies!
- Last but not the least, butternut squash is a great diet food. If you look at its nutrition profile, butternut squash comes packed with nutrients like Vitamins, minerals, a healthy amount of carbohydrates and lots of fiber. There is no fat to be seen anywhere! But you have to be careful to make your butternut squash the right way to get all these benefits! Using too many unhealthy ingredients with butternut squash like butter or sugar will kill all the good nutrients inside it.
So how do we cook Butternut Squash?
Butternut squash as we said earlier is an incredibly versatile vegetable to cook. You can fry it, sauté it, purée it and even make a dessert out of it.
But we are here to tell you how to make your butternut squash healthy for you. So let's do some healthy butternut squash recipes this fall season!
1. The easiest way to make butternut squash in any season and not just fall is to simply dice it up into cubes and sauté it lightly in olive oil. Just add salt and a dash of pepper for seasoning and you'll have a wonderful butternut squash side dish for your fall meal!
2. Do you know what's the perfect thing to cheer you up during the fall season? It's a butternut squash soup! It's also incredibly easy to make! You just need to purée butternut squash and pair it with coconut milk to make a healthy version of butternut squash soup this fall season!
3. If you're looking for a comforting breakfast for your lazy fall mornings then how about roasted butternut squash with a side of poached eggs? The sweet and savoury butternut squash will compliment your salted eggs perfectly!
4. Everyone makes pumpkin pie during the fall season, but why don't you give butternut squash a chance for this year's fall season? Just make sure that you buy butternut squash that has a deep orange colour since they will be sweeter and more flavourful for your pie!
5. No one can imagine the fall season without hearty stews that keep us warm during cold nights. But we totally understand if you are worried about the weight gain that you can get from having heavy stews, especially since they contain many carb heavy ingredients like potatoes! But don't worry as we have a tip for you to make your fall season stews healthier and tastier! Just replace the potatoes in your stew with butternut squash! Not only will they give your stew added flavour, but they'll also greatly reduce the carb number in your stew, making it lighter and carb friendly!
Fall season is just around the corner and that means it's time to pull out our winter clothes and recipe cookbook. We hope that we have warmed you up to the idea of adding more butternut squash recipes this fall! Not only will it make your fall better than ever before but it will also keep you healthy
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