So here we are in the latter days of fall. The year is winding down once again. I have been working on pears, and I purchased a bunch of pumpkins and winter squash due to my absolute crop failure this year. Got them for very little money after halloween.

    Many people don't know how to store squash and pumpkins. They do not store well in a cellar. They need warmer storage than that. The best place to store them is on cardboard, under a bed, in a cool room of the house. However, they must be watched. Speaking from experience, you won't like what happens when you neglect to do so. I have stored some varieties till May the following year this way. Just make sure you store only the ones that have a piece of stem still attached. Otherwise they will spoil quickly. Just use the ones with no stem right away.

   So why bother to store them? Well first of all they are a nutritional powerhouse! They are also just good tasting food. Yes there are all the favorites, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, mashed, buttered, seasoned squash. However, they are also delicious stuffed with savory meat, baked in chunks with onions, simmered in beef or vegetable stew.

   This week I am going to make a fabulous french soup from an heirloom squash from that region called, Galeux d'Eysines . This fabulous squash is extremely juicy, and renowned by french chefs for soup. Often people call them peanut pumpkins, because of their habit of forming rough warts due to sugars built up in their skins during storage. People buy them often as a novelty for their fall display and miss the fabulous flavor of them cooked.

   In the following link is a pretty good recipe for the soup as I make it. However, I use homemade chicken stock from my chickens, rather than veggie stock. I probably will leave my pumpkin soup chunky as I enjoy something to chew when I eat. The typical french recipe calls for blenders and such, but I like the rustic route better, and it is less work. No you don't get that smooth babyfood quality, but lets face it, I'm no longer a baby! Yummy French Pumpkin Soup.  It should also be noted that this recipe, unlike somes has you roasting the pumpkin which concentrates the flavor, and save a lot of time peeling, and dicing pumpkin.