Curry Flavor With Butternut Squash Soup

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Jodi Torpey

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Photo Credit: Jodi Torpey

Garnish your curried butternut squash soup with fresh herbs like chives, or add a dollop of sour cream.

I love soup. I never get tired of making or eating it. That’s why I’m always on the lookout for good soup recipes that are both healthy and easy to prepare. One of my fall favorites is this recipe for curried butternut squash soup that a friend shared with me over 10 years ago.

This is the kind of soup that can be served for special occasions or ordinary fall weekends. It can be eaten hot or cold and featured with any number of flavorful garnishes. Simply put: It’s delicious.

Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata) is considered a vine crop. Unlike summer squash, it needs room to grow and time to mature. Most winter squash need between 80 and 100 days before harvesting – and they aren’t ready to pick until the skin has hardened (which usually occurs before the first fall frost). Once cured, winter squash can be stored for three or more months.

One of the reasons I’m crazy about butternut squash is the fact it’s so versatile. It can be roasted, baked, sautéed, steamed, cooked into casseroles and used in muffins and breads. Butternut squash is also an excellent source of vitamins A, B6 and C. It’s high in fiber, low in calories, and its rich orange color means it’s loaded with beta-carotene, too.

There’s one more added benefit for using butternut squash in recipes: You can use the seeds as squirrel food – they go nuts for them. (Just as you’ll go nuts for this soup.)

Facts

Tumeric – one of the colorful ingredients in curry powder used to flavor this butternut squash soup – contains a powerful antioxidant called curcumin. Recent research shows that curcumin may help prevent a number of health problems thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties.

Tips

When buying a butternut squash at the grocery store, select one with a dull finish and that feels heavy for its size. Avoid squash with green coloring on its skin, which signals it was harvested before it was ready.
If you’ve got too much butternut squash left over at the end of the season, prepare it for the soup – or make the soup itself. Just pop it in the freezer in a seal-tight container with as little air as possible. Then thaw and complete the recipe (or simply reheat if you made the soup already), and you’re ready to enjoy a delicious meal.

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