To peel or not to peel ...

[KC2]

Hi
I was thinking about what I'm going to make for supper tonight and fancied something along the lines of the second recipe here, the squash stew https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... nter-stews

Now, Anna Jones says "... chop the squash into bite-sized pieces (there’s no need to peel it)"

I have a large butternut squash which would be ideal, but I am really not sure about not peeling it - I think I always have in the past.

What is your experience re. whether to peel or not?

Thanks!

[Suelle]

I don't peel butternut squash when I'm roasting it, but I think I would do so for that recipe. There's a lot of difference between roasted peel and stewed peel.

[Catherine]

I never peel butternut. The skin is lovely

[KC2]

Thanks both, that's good to know. I will definitely try roasting it unpeeled next time

[StokeySue]

I never peel butternut. The skin is lovely

I disagree - I always pedl

[KC2]

I never peel butternut. The skin is lovely

I disagree - I always pedl

Ah - very interesting

I don't have fennel or celery so am thinking about substituting some fennel seeds, which will probably be fine flavour wise.

[suffolk]

I used to peel butternut ... I sliced my hand and someone on here told me not to bother peeling so I don't and it's fine

[KC2]

oh dear, suffs, a touch of avocado hand .... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-398 ... th-warning !!

[suffolk]

I know

[TeresaFoodie]

I've struggled lately to peel anything firm so I don't bother with squash and agree, skin is fine. The recipe looks lovely by the way. Let us know how it turns out.

[earthmaiden]

Some can have quite thick and woody skin which is very unpleasant to eat. In recent times, I have found that the ones from supermarkets have quite thin skin (I suppose it's the way they're grown), which isn't so bad for roasting. Personally I don't like any of the skin and usually peel just in case the skin is woody. The thin skinned ones peel easily with a potato peeler.

[KC2]

Well, it's all in the pot now. Where she gets prep time as 6 mins, I just don't know .. it took me longer than that to chop the onion, carrots and celery and peel the squash!
OH helped out and chopped the squash for me but it is still 30 mins since I started ... I know I'm not the world's fastest but even so....

[Gruney]

I don't peel butternut squash when I'm roasting it, but I think I would do so for that recipe. There's a lot of difference between roasted peel and stewed peel.

That's what I do. Roasted, the skin is really nice - somehow, I don't fancy it stewed; but there again, I've never tried it.

[KC2]

Well, it was very tasty. I used fresh rosemary from the garden.

It was too wet though. I think I should probably have cooked it with the lid off. I'll do that next time - my pot was so full if I'd left the lid off, it would have splattered everywhere. I should have dug out my ancient and battered old splatter screen!
I'd probably pop in a few more lentils as well next time.

Definitely worth doing again/ recommending

[Catherine]

Next time why not try leaving the sin on a few pieces of squash and see what you think

[Prettykiwicrazy]

I tried a BNS dish a while back that recommended leaving the skin on and I found it very unpleasant

[KC2]

Next time why not try leaving the sin on a few pieces of squash and see what you think

yes, that would be a good idea - and if they were fine, we'd know for the next time!!

[Zosherooney]

On peeling...... Do you peel cultivated mushrooms ? I don't, I have a s'room brush and use that to clean dust, leaf matter and earth from them. I don't wash them either...

[suffolk]

Never wash them ... they act like sponges if you do.
Never peel most of them either ... just a quick wipe.
I do peel cultivated large mushrooms ... the ones the size of a side plate.

[Hope]

I tried it before, but we didn't like the texture of the skin.

[suffolk]

I never notice the texture of the skin ... Once they're cooked it all seems as one to me

[StokeySue]

I don't peel cultivated mushrooms, unless the skin is tattered on the huge ones. Always seems like a lot of effort just to remove some flavour

There was an expert of some kind on the radio a while back who said it's fine to wash them, the gills on some varieties may hold a little water but you can shake that off, the flesh is already 95% water and can't possibly take up any more. So if they are gritty I do now give them a quick rinse, certainly with the closed cup varieties.

[Ratatouille]

I wipe cultivated mushrooms but some wild mushrooms just have to be washed. Cepes are really tricky as they do go soggy very easily. I find the spray function on my kitchen tap the perfect answer and I use a toothbrush (not used for it's real purpose) to remove any stubborn bits.

[KC2]

I remember being told once that mushrooms grow in manure so you have to wash them - but that was a long time ago and I daresay the medium they grow the cultivated ones in is not that yucky, When I have washed them I don't find there's a problem with them absorbing too much water, at least, not the closed cup ones Sue mentions above.

I definitely never peel them unless the skin is intolerably dirty and manky which isn't usually the case with the cultivated ones from the supermarket.

some wild mushrooms just have to be washed. Cepes are really tricky as they do go soggy very easily. I find the spray function on my kitchen tap the perfect answer and I use a toothbrush (not used for it's real purpose) to remove any stubborn bits.

Lucky you, Rats, to be able to forage for cepes! Mind you, I would probably be too chicken to eat mushrooms I found unless I was with someone like you who obviously knows which ones to avoid

[StokeySue]

I'd eat cepes I foraged for, certainly in the UK, as I don't think there is anything you can confuse them with here. Less sure about other varieties, tend to buy them in Borough market

You can now get packs of good cultivated "woodland mushrooms" (that's what Morrisons call them, good title I think) in supermarkets, the Sainsbury ones are very good. No cepes / porcini though

[Ratatouille]

Lucky you, Rats, to be able to forage for cepes! Mind you, I would probably be too chicken to eat mushrooms I found unless I was with someone like you who obviously knows which ones to avoid

I was taught by a wonderful local lady but, even if I hadn't been one can always take your "catch" to the local pharmacy for identification. The hardest ones to clean are the lactaires which grow in pine forests and tend to have pine needles and moss attached.

[patpoyntz]

We get wonderful chanterelles here, and I really try not to wash them as they do soak up the water. I have a mushroom brush which I think I got from Lakeland, which I find very useful. Cultivated mushroom get the end of the stalk trimmed , then a ‘damp dust’

[miss mouse]

I remember being told once that mushrooms grow in manure so you have to wash them - but that was a long time ago and I daresay the medium they grow the cultivated ones in is not that yucky,

The cultivated ones are grown in sterilised medium these days, I think the whole of the growing place is kept as sterile as possible, The Food Programme visited a large mushroom factory in Ireland and had to dress up, a bit like this visitor

http://smithmeadows.com/farm/how-are-mushrooms-grown/

[KC2]

Thanks for that link mm, really interesting!

[karadekoolaid]

I peel squash but I never peel mushrooms. As MM said, mushrooms are grown in sterilised soil these days, not in Horse Doo-Doos, like in the old days
I just wipe them with a damp kitchen towel, then cook them.
Squash, in the tropics, tends to have a tougher skin. Chewy and nasty.

[Gruney]

I don't peel mushrooms - I remember my mother always used to though. The packed mushrooms I get from Morrisons come with the instruction to wash before use. I seem to recall from the old board, that a contributer did an experiment where he weighed the mushrooms before and after washing, and concluded that the "sponge effect" was an old wives' tale.

[suffolk]

It may well be that closed cup and button mushrooms don't soak up water, but the small open cup mushrooms which we used to get from the farm shop certainly did.

[Amber]

I remember in the olden days (1970s in M’bro ), buying mushrooms from a small greengrocer’s shop near the station. They all needed to be peeled. But on the other hand, if you were making soup you could just buy stalks only. Times have definitely changed.