It’s easy to plant acorn squash. But it isn’t as easy to know when it’s ripe and ready to be harvested. This is one of the hardest problems that people planting acorn squash have.
To know when the squash is ripe and ready. If you are making a mistake in harvesting the acorn squash when it isn’t ripe yet, you might lose your whole crop.
This is why you need to make sure that you know when your acorn squash is ripe and ready to be picked. A mistake that many are making and regretting.
The Importance of Knowing When an Acorn Squash is Ripe
Why is it important to know when an acorn squash is ripe? Especially if you aren’t going to use it immediately.
The problem is that if an acorn squash isn’t ripe when you are picking or harvesting it, it will never get ripe. This is one of the vegetables that won’t ripen after it has been removed from the plant. Something that not many people realize until it is too late.
It is really important to know when this type of squash is ripe before you pick it from the plant. Otherwise, you will never be able to enjoy eating it.
This is also why you need to make sure that you know how a ripe acorn squash looks like when you are buying it in-store. The last thing that you want is to buy a squash that you can’t use.
The Color of the Acorn Squash When It is Ripe
You might know what the color of the acorn squash looks like when it isn’t ripe. It is a shiny, deep green color. The squash will be small as well when it is still not ripe.
As the acorn squash ripens, it will get bigger, lose its shine, and the green is getting lighter. There will also be orange patches on ripe acorn squash.
But one thing that you need to know is that this isn’t the only thing that you need to look at when you are looking for ripe acorn squash. There are some other things that you need to consider as well.
Doing the Skin Test to Ensure That the Acorn Squash is Ripe
Besides the color of the acorn squash, doing the skin test is just as important. Making sure that the squash is really ripe and ready to be picked. As the squash is getting ripe, you will notice that the skin is getting harder.
This is why you should do the skin test. This is where you are trying to break the skin with your fingernail. If you can’t, then you will know that the acorn squash is ready to be picked.
When your fingernail is making a mark on the skin, it isn’t ready yet.
The Stem on the Acorn Squash
If you are still worrying that your acorn squash isn’t ripe, there is one other thing that you can do. You can look at the stem on the acorn squash. When the stem on the acorn is still green and fresh-looking, the squash isn’t ripe yet.
A ripe squash has a dry, brownish stem. This is because there is no need for the squash to get nutrients from the plant anymore.
If you are looking at the acorn squash, and it has the right color, the skin is really hard and the stem is dry and brown, you can know for sure that your squash is ripe.
Storing Your Acorn Squash When You Harvested It
People are making the mistake to think that a ripe acorn squash can’t be stored for a long time. That you need to use the squash as fast as possible after you have picked it. However, this isn’t the case.
If you are storing it correctly, you can store the acorn squash for a couple of months. It is best to store our acorn squash in a dry, cool place for storage.
The warmer the storage, the easier and faster the squash will go off and not be editable anymore.
Again, remember that if you think that picking it before it ripens will let it last longer, you are mistaken. It will not ripen anymore after you have picked or harvested it.
Conclusion
There are a couple of things that you need to look at when you want to make sure that your acorn squash is ripe and ready to be picked. You need to look at the color of the acorn squash. Look for orange patches is essential.
You should also look at the stem on the squash, and make sure that the skin is hard and tough. This will ensure that your acorn squash is ripe and ready to be picked.
When you are looking at these, you will not make a mistake in picking an acorn squash that isn’t ripe yet.
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