Hi there, I just found this particular forum. We grow an abundance of all kinds of winter squash every year, and thought I'd pass along something we've recently discovered, now that some of the '06 harvest is getting a tad orange around the gills. We're making dried squash leather, much the same as fruit leather.

The basic formula is to take about an oven load of squash, rinse off, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake for an hour and a bit at 350. Let cool, scoop out the flesh, mash that up, and spread it out on sheets in the dehydrator.

Plain, it gives a very intense pumpkin flavor, which is not for everybody. We then tried spicing it up like pumpkin pie, but the drying process seems to loose most of the spice flavor and what is left gets bitter. The best thing we've found is adding the juice from a few lemons and limes, preferably a bit heavy on the limes. For a gallon of squash purée, about 1 lemon and 4 limes seems to do it.

This is pretty good stuff. When its dried, I just tear it in rough pieces and put it a ziplock bag, and my kids take it for snacks to school, skiing, and so on.

It also is a great way to use up those enormous banana squash, and we had half a dozen huge Maria d'Chiogga that nobody knew what to do with.