The Hemp Connection:
butterstick squash

I was intrigued by a recipe I recently received from idealbite.com for Organic Butterstick Squash Soup. What in the world is a Butterstick Squash I thought??? Well, it turns out it is a summer squash also known by cucurbita pepo. And did you know that, botanically speaking, squash is a fruit? Who knew??? Anyway, the recipe looks delicious and if you cannot find Butterstick Squash, regular old yellow squash will do. Oh, and as an added bonus, the hazelnuts contain omega-3s and the cranberries are high in antioxidants. Enjoy!

Be sure to check out the Ideal Bite website for more eco-friendly tidbits!

Organic Butterstick Squash Soup
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients (local or organic whenever possible):
1 yellow Butterstick squash (or 5 yellow squash)
2 Tbls. butter
1 Tbls. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
2 tsp. lemon juice
12 cups of vegetable stock (canned is fine)
pumpkin seed oil
hazelnuts
fresh cranberries

Peel squash, reserving skin. Dice the squash and saute' over high heat with butter, stirring constantly. Cook for approximately a minute and a half to dry out the squash, but don't let it caramelize. Add salt and pepper, add 4 cups water and cook for 10 minutes. Blanch the skins in boiling water for 45 seconds. Puree the cooked squash and skins together in a blender with the lemon juice. In a separate saucepan, bring the vegetable stock to a boil. Pour stock into blender with mixture, and puree to soup consistency. Pour entire mixture back into pot and bring to a boil. Serve in bowls drizzled with pumpkin seed oil and garnished with hazelnuts and fresh cranberries.

Winter squash is one of those vegetables I didn't learn to like until I was an adult. But now that I've discovered it, boy do I love it! I recently made an Indian squash-lentil stew that was a fabulous way to blend the outgoing flavors of summer with the incoming comfort food season. hinking there are many other adults out there who also had a thing against squash, I thought it would make a fun blog post. I learned new and interesting things pertinent to our insulin-resistant readers.

As with many of the fruits I profiled over the summer, squash isn't bad just because it's starchy. Again, Mother Nature was thoughtful enough to put compounds in squash that help to counteract that carbohydrate. In fact, some of them actually help to improve insulin function and reduce the progression of diabetes. I'm really starting to see, as I research for all of you, that what we were taught long ago, that it was about the carbohydrates no matter what the source, was not correct. When we eat carbohydrates right off of the tree, or right out of the ground, they come packaged in a way we were designed to handle them. It's when we refine the good stuff out of them that our bodies don't do well with them.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that squash may be one of those vegetables that is extremely important to purchase from an organic farmer. I would have assumed, if asked, that because this vegetable has a skin that you can peel and discard, that it would be safer from pesticides than a lot of other vegetables. However, squash is unique for its tendency to absorb contaminant chemicals such as residual DDT and DDT derivatives from the ground in which it grows. So much so, that farmers often plant squash in between plantings of other crops to pull contaminants out of the soil and improve soil quality.

Just to be safe, be sure anything you purchase in the squash family (summer zucchini, winter squash, pumpkin, any kind of melon) comes from an organic farm, which is less likely to be using chemicals on an ongoing basis that have any need to be removed from the soil.

Please don't let the second half of this post scare you away from squash. My intent was more to motivate you to get to the local farmer's market in search of a big, beautiful butternut and discover how much flavor, color, and nutrition it can add to your fall menus! Here's a recipe for a roasted vegetable medley to get you started, from http://www.allrecipes.com/.
Thomas JE, Ou LT, All-Agely A. DDE remediation and degradation. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol. 2008;194:55-69.

Cofield N, Schwab AP and Banks MK. Phytoremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil: part I. Dissipation of target contaminants. International Journal of Phytoremediation. Boca Raton: 2007. Vol. 9, Iss. 4-6; pg. 355-370. 2007.
White JC. Inheritance of p,p'-DDE phytoextraction ability in hybridized Cucurbita pepo cultivars. Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Jul 1;44(13):5165-9.