"But, um," you're thinking, "shouldn't that read 'winter squash is to '? Because, you know, they're winter squash?" Pish tosh, we say. The winter add-on is more about how long you can store these vegetables in a cool (but not cold) place. Elizabeth Schneider, who devotes thirty oversized, well-illustrated pages to hard squash in Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini, tells several a tale of a winter squash's longevity: Months, even a year in one case, go by before the squash meet their fate on a dinner plate, nary the worse for wear. For best results, choose your squash wisely. Occasional Seattlest Kate offers a handy online guide to selecting squash if you can't get to the similar list in the Schneider book.

Photos by Melissa Schneider

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