Compare prices for fresh butternut squash across Edmonton retailers.
Butternut squash is a winter squash, harvested fully mature and sold ready to cook, so there is no soft-ripe stage to wait for the way there is with a peach or an avocado — the task at the store is to tell a properly matured squash from an under-mature one. Choose a squash with a hard rind that a thumbnail cannot pierce, and skin that is matte rather than glossy: a shiny, waxy sheen, or any green tinge or green streaks, means the squash was picked young and will be starchier, less sweet, and quicker to spoil. Look as well for a deep, even tan colour, a shape that feels heavy and dense for its size — a sign of thick flesh and a small seed cavity — and a dry, corky stem still firmly attached, since a missing, soft, or green stem opens the fruit to rot. A fully mature squash is good to cook the day it is bought, and because it keeps for weeks it is also the rare piece of produce you can buy now specifically to use later in the week or month.
Store a whole, uncut squash in a cool, dry, well-ventilated spot — a pantry or cupboard around 10 to 15 °C is ideal — where a sound butternut will hold for two to three months, and leaving it at room temperature for the first week lets the rind harden and the flavour sweeten. Do not refrigerate a whole squash: the cold, damp air of a fridge causes chilling injury and speeds decay, while sealed plastic traps moisture and invites mould, so keep it loose and not touching other squash. Once cut, the rules flip — wrap the pieces, refrigerate them, and use within about four or five days, or peel, cube, and freeze for longer keeping. One cold-climate caution worth noting in Edmonton: squash is damaged by freezing, turning watery and mushy as it thaws, so do not leave it in a freezing vehicle, an unheated garage, or a cold porch through winter; bring it indoors to a cool room instead.
A butternut squash is past its best when soft or sunken spots appear — most often on the underside where it rested — or when the rind is punctured, weeping liquid, or showing fuzzy white, grey, or black mould; shrivelled, wrinkled skin and a hollow, surprisingly light feel point to a squash that has dried out inside. Small corky tan scars or scuffs on the skin are only cosmetic and do not affect the flesh underneath, so they are no reason to pass a squash over. Cut squash that has turned slimy or slippery, darkened, or smells sour or fermented rather than faintly sweet and nutty should be discarded, but a squash that is merely past peak with one small bad spot can usually be rescued by cutting the affected area well away and cooking the rest promptly.
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