When do I pick pumpkins and squash, and how do I cure them?

Winter squash and pumpkins are the one vegetable where the harvest and the storage are a single operation. A fruit cut too soon will never harden, and a fruit stored without curing rots by Christmas. Both mistakes are easy to avoid once you know what to look at.

Step by step

1. Slip a tile or board under each fruit as it develops.Keeping the fruit off damp soil prevents the rot patch that otherwise develops underneath and ruins storage. Do it as soon as the fruit is the size of a fist.
2. Check the stem.A ripe winter squash has a stem that has gone hard, dry and corky where it meets the fruit, often with fine splits along it. A green, soft, sappy stem means it is still growing.
3. Test the skin with a thumbnail.Press firmly. On a ripe fruit the nail will not mark the skin. If it dents, leave it on the plant longer.
4. Look at the ground spot.The patch where the fruit sat should have gone from pale white-green to a deep cream, gold or orange. That colour change is a reliable ripeness signal.
5. Cut, do not pull.Use secateurs or a knife and leave a good length of stem — several centimetres — attached to the fruit. Never carry a squash by the stem: if it snaps out you have an open wound in the top of the fruit and it will rot within weeks.
6. Harvest before the first hard frost.Frost damages the skin and destroys storage life. If frost is forecast and the fruit is not fully ripe, cover the plants or bring them in and accept a shorter store.
7. Cure warm and airy for ten days to a fortnight.Spaced out, not touching, in a greenhouse, conservatory, sunny porch or warm room. The skin hardens and small wounds seal over. This is the stage most people skip and it is the one that decides storage life.
8. Move to cool, dry, frost-free storage.A spare room, a hallway, a cool cupboard — around 10–15°C is ideal. Not a damp shed, not a garage that freezes, not next to a radiator. Keep them spaced apart on shelves or racks rather than piled up.
9. Check them monthly.Look at the stem end and the base for softening. Use any that are going over immediately; one rotting fruit will not spread far if they are not touching, which is why spacing matters.

Tips

• Courgettes and summer squash do not cure and do not store — they are eaten within days. Only hard-skinned winter squash and pumpkins keep.
• Storage life varies enormously by type: some squash keep six months or more, while large carving pumpkins are usually the poorest keepers of the lot.
• A fruit that was cut before the skin hardened will not cure afterwards. Put it at the front and eat it first.
• Flavour in most winter squash improves after a few weeks of storage as starches convert to sugars — they are better in November than in September.
• Wiping the skin with a dry cloth to remove soil is fine. Washing them is not — moisture on the skin at storage is the start of rot.

Common mistakes

• Carrying squash by the stem — The stem levers out of the fruit, leaving a hole in the top. That fruit will rot in storage, however well it is cured.
• Skipping curing — The skin never fully hardens and small cuts stay open. The crop is fine for a few weeks and then starts going over.
• Storing them stacked in a box — Pressure points bruise and there is no airflow. Space them on a shelf, not touching.
• Storing in a damp shed or a garage that freezes — Damp brings rot; frost destroys the flesh. A cool room indoors is better than either.

Keeping on top of it

• Check stored fruit for soft spots at the stem and base (monthly)
• Turn each fruit so it does not sit on one spot all winter (every 6–8 weeks)

Questions people ask