When fall finally leaves behind summer and ushers in its bounty, you’d be hard-pressed to think of a vegetable that represents autumn more than the pumpkin. (Though considered a vegetable in cooking, botanically speaking, squash is a fruit—being the receptacle for the plant's seeds—and not a vegetable.)

The season for these edible gourds runs from late August through March, but buy your squash from October through January—the heart of the season. Almost everyone buys at least one pumpkin now. Don’t limit yourself to jack-‘o-lanterns, however. Other winter squash are plentiful, and their uses are just as diverse and colorful as their varieties.

Winter squash are rich in many nutrients and packed with vitamin A. One cup provides 150 percent of our daily need plus about 30 percent of our need for vitamin C, 25 percent of our potassium, as well as much of our manganese and folate. This vegetable was once such an important part of the diet of Native Americans that they buried these squash with their dead to provide nourishment on one’s final journey!

Winter squash comes in shapes round and elongated, scalloped and pear-shaped with flesh that ranges from golden-yellow to brilliant orange. While each type varies in shape, color, size and flavor, they all share some common characteristics. The shells are hard and difficult to pierce. Storage periods are between one and six months when kept in dark, cool, dry places. The flesh is mildly sweet in flavor and finely grained in texture (except for spaghetti squash). Additionally, all have seed-containing hollow inner cavities.

Many varieties are available at supermarkets and farmers’ markets. Here are some of my favorites:

• Acorn: Acorn-shaped with dark green, orange, or mottled skin, acorn squashes are usually about 4 inches in diameter and have sweet, slightly fibrous flesh. Cut in half and bake with butter brown sugar and cinnamon for a simple, but delicious treat.
• Butternut: Shaped like a vase, the butternut has a long, straight neck and a bulbous end that contains the seeds and pulp. It weighs from 2 to 5 pounds. Its thin, beige-colored skin is easy to peel, and its relatively quick-cooking flesh is a wonderful addition to gratins and medleys of autumn vegetables.Substitute this squash for the pumpkin in your favorite pumpkin pie recipe!
• Delicata: Small, oblong squashes ranging in size from 5 to 10 inches long with stripes of dark green and pale yellow, these squashes are wonderful for roasting and stuffing.
• Pumpkins: Look for so-called sugar pumpkins specifically bred for flavor and cooking use. Sugar varieties have the most flesh and sweetest taste—ideal for baking, roasting, and making pies. Save the carving pumpkins, bred for size only, for jack-o’-lanterns.
• Sweet dumpling: A roasted Sweet Dumpling is wonderful for serving a hot dish in an eye-catching container for special occasions. One squash is a perfect 2-serving size as it only weighs about a half pound and has the same appealing white and green striping as the delicata. It’s so sweet that no seasoning is needed. Just take a spoon and dig in or try with a little salt and fresh cracked pepper. It doesn’t get any simpler than this.
• Spaghetti Squash: As the name implies, spaghetti squash has a flesh that, when cooked, forms loose spaghetti-like golden strands. A low-calorie, crisp-textured vehicle for sauces, it’s delicious with my Uncomplicated White Clam Sauce!