Let's Examine Texture

• Butternut squash is an especially smooth variety of winter squash whose texture is velvety enough to invite comparison with butter. Potatoes tend to be grainier than butternuts, especially potato varieties such as russets. However, like potatoes, butternut squash is firm and stands up well to long periods of cooking in liquid. The texture of a butternut squash cooked in a beef stew will not be exactly the same as the texture of a potato cooked in the same stew, but the texture of the butternut squash will be equally appealing.

What About Flavor?

• Because butternut squash is sweeter than potatoes, adding it to a beef stew will change the dish somewhat. However, the flavor of butternut squash is not aggressively sweet, so this difference in flavor rarely tastes wrong. The flavor of butternut squash may be jarring in recipes where the use of potatoes is traditional and time-honored, such as traditional rustic beef stews. However, a less traditional beef stew, with an improvised mix of vegetables and seasonings, could hold up gracefully to a butternut squash substitution.

What's Appealing About Potatoes

• Many cooks remove the tough outer peel of butternut squash before cooking it, but this step is not absolutely necessary if you cook it for a long time and are accustomed to eating vegetables unpeeled. If you decide to peel the squash, you'll discover that butternut squash is more difficult to peel than potatoes. Butternut squash is also larger and harder than potatoes, making it more difficult to manage and cut.

Seasonal Considerations

• Substituting butternut squash for potatoes is not always an option if you base your diet on local, seasonal produce. Although butternut squash is known as a winter squash, it actually reaches maturity and ripens in the fall. It has a long shelf life and, if stored correctly, can keep until early spring. Potatoes reach maturity in the summer, but they can hold underground for months and in cold storage for months longer. Both butternut squash and potatoes have long shelf lives, but potatoes can be available locally year-round in most temperate climates, while the supply of local butternut squash usually runs out after about six months.