Growing and Using Vegetable Spaghetti Squash
Growing and Using Vegetable Spaghetti Squash
For a couple of years I have grown spaghetti squash (also known as vegetable spaghetti) in my vegetable garden. Spaghetti squash is a winter squash vine which looks similar to a pumpkin vine. When cooked, the flesh of the fruit of the spaghetti squash can be broken up into strands which look like spaghetti. It is a rather tasteless vegetable too, so it can be used in much the same way as you would use spaghetti - fun for kids and great for those on a low-carb diet!
All photos on this page are taken by me unless otherwise stated.
Growing Spaghetti Squash
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licensed for reuse under (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Because spaghetti squash requires quite a long growing season, it may be worth your while to start your seedlings indoors about a month or so before the last frost date in your area. After the last frost date and when the soil has begun to warm up, transplant the seedlings into a sunny position in your garden in a garden bed which has been enriched with some organic matter, such as compost or manure. Plant the seedlings about 3 feet apart.
The spaghetti squash is a vine plant similar to a pumpkin vine, so it needs a fair amount of space to be able to ramble. I grew some of mine vertically on a trellis. I was fortunate and didn't have problems with the heavy fruit breaking off the vine. If you decide to grow them on a vine, you may wish to make little slings out of netting to cradle the fruit.
Make sure you give your spaghetti squash plenty of water as they are growing. When the fruit are forming, it may be a good idea to keep them off the dirt with mulch to prevent them from rotting.
Your should have squashes in about 100 days.
Harvesting Your Vegetable Spaghetti
You must wait until the spaghetti squash is fully mature before harvesting. Here's a way to test if the fruit is mature enough to harvest: if the skin of the fruit is tough enough that you can't push your fingernail into it, the fruit is ready to harvest. Or you can wait until the stem to the fruit dries up (like my fruit hanging on my support in the picture on the right).
When you pick the squash, leave a couple of inches of stem attached. This will help the squash keep for longer. If kept in a cool dry room, the squash should last quite a few months.
Vegetable Spaghetti Squash Poll
Have you ever tried spaghetti squash?
Cooking Your Spaghetti Squash
You can steam, boil, or roast the vegetable spaghetti, but a really easy way to cook it is to cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and sit both halves in a dish with half a cup of water. Cover and microwave on high for about 10 minutes (depending on your microwave oven). Leave it to stand for a couple of minutes before running a fork through the flesh to separate into spaghetti-like strands.
Using Vegetable Spaghetti Squash
The easiest and most obvious way to use spaghetti squash is to cook it and use it just like you would normal spaghetti - add a yummy sauce and you're ready!
But I have also found some other more creative ways for using this unusual vegetable. Check out the recipes by clicking on the following links:
www.food.com/recipe/spaghetti-squash-cake-with-orange-cream-cheese-glaze-163670
Spaghetti squash cake with orange-cream cheese glaze
uhapibeauty.com/2012/07/02/scrumptious-spaghetti-squash-cakes/
Savoury spaghetti squash cakes.
teczcape.blogspot.com.au/2010/12/spaghetti-squash-frittata-fritters.html
Spaghetti squash frittata fritters
recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=382678
Spaghetti squash pancakes
