Stevie's History with Squash

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The mysterious sister we call squash! Caster of shade and whimsy! Divine relative! If only I would have come to know you better in my youth.

In my home squash was an often overlooked, if not misunderstood relative of the three sister system. On occasion it would wander onto my plate in the humble, yet deeply flavorful form, of calabacitas: a mix of squash, corn, tomatoes, onion, garlic and green chiles (other peppers often substituted). But unfortunately calabacitas was not as frequent a character in the story of my ancestral food ways as some of the other sisters were.

Occasionally my mom would be gifted an oversized zucchini from a gardening comrade (my mom gardened too when I was a kid, but bless her heart, she only grew flowers back then.) This sort of thing must have happened semi frequently, because at a certain point in my youth I have a lot of memories of fresh zucchini bread coming pipin hot off the presses, straight out of a bread tin, straight onto my plate. A couple dabs of butter later, and I’m happy as a clam at high tide. A crispy outer layer of browned crust crunches and pushes back as you bite into it, only to yield to fields of warm, soft, buttery, earthy delight, subtle notes of cinnamon linger with the gentle earthen sweetness of the zuke. These were the humble forms that brought sister squash onto my plate and into my being, but I’m pleased to acknowledge that there’s no lack of warmth and tenderness felt toward this relative, so hopefully we can continue to grow towards each other as my ancestral relations and responsibilities come into clearer focus. I look forward to knowing you better, sister.