Web Analytics
Want to be healthier? Get creative and create a healthy eating plan. This Healthy Eating Worksheet will help. Download yours today!Yes! I want to be healthier.
Carma's Cookery banner

The Benefits of Acorn Squash

Acorn squash

Public domain image from the United States Department of Agriculture via Wikimedia Commons.

One of my favorite side dishes when I was growing up was acorn squash. My mother would bake it and then serve it with melted butter and brown sugar. Yum!

In honor of National Acorn Squash Day, which is today, I thought I’d share information about this hearty fall vegetable that can be so versatile.

Although like other winter season squashes, such as the pumpkin, it has a firm outer shell … kind of like a gourd … it is actually related to the summer squashes, such as zucchini and yellow crookneck squash.

Acorn squashes provide a decent amount of nutrition. They contain vitamin A, niacin, folate, thiamine and vitamin B-6. In addition, a 1/2-cup serving of cooked, cubed acorn squash provides approximately 20% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C for healthy adults following a 2000-calorie diet. Of course, how much vitamin C you receive from your serving depends on how your prepare it.

If you want to get the most vitamin C out of your acorn squash, use it 3-4 days after purchase and cut it just before cooking. Also, steam or bake it — boiling will leach the vitamin C out into the water.

Acorn squash is also a good source of potassium and magnesium. That same 1/2-cup serving provides 13% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of potassium and 11% of magnesium.

Acorn squash provides fiber and antioxidants, as well.

Given its nutritious content, acorn squash is able to impart several health benefits:

  • Its Vitamin C helps boost your immune system
  • Its Vitamin A helps improve vision and contributes to good skin
  • Its fiber help regulate digestion, blood sugar and cholesterol
  • Its potassium helps to regulate the fluid balance in the cells and tissues, thus helping with blood pressure. These effects are strengthened by its magnesium content, which regulates the uptake of potassium

creative-cooking-tips

Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squashes

Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squashes
Photo by thebittenword.com via flickr under Creative Commons license

Most people probably serve acorn squash the way my mother did, but that’s not the only way you can cook this vegetable/fruit.

  • Roast it and mash it up with potatoes
  • Stuff it with rice, sausage and savory seasoning — or your favorite other stuffing
  • Glaze it with citrus such as orange or grapefruit
  • Season it with rosemary
  • Pair it with mushrooms, apples or other autumn produce
  • Puree it into a creamy soup
  • Cube it and add it to pasta (Mac & Cheese and Acorn Squash anyone?)
  • Instead of butter and brown sugar, try other ingredients such as mustard and honey

If you do search with the keywords “acorn squash recipes,” you’ll find a wide variety of ways to prepare this seasonal squash.


Sources:

Healthy Eating Worksheet

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now

Sharing is caring!

About the author

Carma Spence has been experimenting in the kitchen since she was four years old and loves trying out new recipe ideas. She is the author of Bonkers for Bundt Cakes and Your Perfect Pie, as well as author and contributor to several more non-food-related books. With Carma's Cookery, she is taking her passion for empowering people and blending it with her passion for cooking, gift-giving and entertaining.

The owner of this website has made a committment to accessibility and inclusion, please report any problems that you encounter using the contact form on this website. This site uses the WP ADA Compliance Check plugin to enhance accessibility.