<<At Home: Storing for Flavor

The Basics:

Treat Tenderly A defining features of summer squash is its tender skin (as opposed to winter squash’s hard shell.) So go gently on in it to avoid bumping and nicking the skin.

Refrigerate Quickly Get squash into the frig as soon as possible. Being mostly water, they can go limp quickly in outside air.

Bag Loosely As always, no need to wash before storing, even if the squash are dirty. Just pop in a bag and close loosely.

The Official Word

Properly stored, summer squash will last 5 to 14 days.

Unofficial Footnotes

Five to 14 days is quite a range! Will your squash be toast on day five or do you have another week and a half to use it up? Here are a couple factors to help narrow things down:

Size Matters In the same way that adult humans are generally stronger and hardier than babies, mature squash is sturdier and more long-lasting than tender baby squash. The 5-day end of the storage continuum is likely meant for the babies, while the 14-day upper limit is more for larger squash.

Interestingly, really large squash can last even more than 14 days. The larger a summer squash becomes, the more it becomes like a winter squash, with a tough exterior skin that protects the inner flesh. So these giants can be used as much as four or five weeks after picking, although the seeds may need to be removed if hard, and the skin peeled if tough (a vegetable peeler works just fine.)

Adjust for Starting Point and Condition The 14-day end of the spectrum is also more reliable for freshly picked squash–the kind sold at a Farmer’s Market. If your squash is purchased at the grocery store, it is likely two to three days old to begin with, so reduce the applicable storage time accordingly. Also reduce the storage time if the squash looked worn when purchased, meaning it’s likely another two or three days old.

In the end, a less than optimal, smaller-sized squash may only have a day or two left by the time you get it home while a fresh-picked, mature squash can indeed last 2 weeks.

A Final Caveat

Remember that all vegetables begin to deteriorate nutritionally from the moment they’re picked. So regardless of how long a squash can last, from a nutritional standpoint, it’s always best to use as soon as possible. This is true in terms of taste, too. The fresher the better.

How Long Will Squash Last?

Money Saver: Pitch or Use?

Regardless of all the produce rules and nutrition protocols, when it comes to assessing the longevity of produce, money is usually the overriding concern: “Do I have to pitch the 10-day-old squash I just found in the frig (and not only waste its $3.00 purchase price but pay $3.00 more for a replacement?)

Find out how to resolve that conundrum in a tastefully economical way. See the Money Saver section.

Helpful Hint:

Older squash are best eaten cooked rather than raw. Cooking helps mask the usable-but-still-less-than-fresh taste of older squash. If a dish features raw summer squash, be sure to use small to medium squash that are as fresh as possible, even if it does mean an extra trip to the store (although a little advance planning can spare you from that fate!)

Store in Top Drawer or Main Compartment Being a warmer weather vegetable, squash prefers one of the warmer areas of the refrigerator. It doesn’t want to be in the bottom crisper drawer, where it’s cold and damp. While that’s the perfect spot for cold-weather greens like lettuce and spinach, summer squash wants to be in the top crisper with other warm weather veggies like cucumber, beans and eggplant. There, the temperature is just cool and the humidity is moderate.