Squash and Cucumbers

The cucurbit family has made three broad contributions to the kitchen: sweet, moist melons (a fruit story), sweet, starchy winter squashes (harvested fully mature, stored for months), and mild, moist summer squashes and cucumbers (harvested immature, used within weeks). The word “squash” comes from a Narragansett Indian word meaning “a green thing eaten raw.” All cucurbits are native to warm climates and suffer chilling injury at refrigerator temperatures.