Stored pumpkins: use them or lose them

Now is the time to go and check your store of pumpkins and winter squash. Go on, do it now.

What, don't tell me you put them in the shed? Unless your shed's incredibly damp-proof, they could be a pile of mush by now. Assuming they're not, bring them into a damp-free, preferably unheated room in your house - a lobby, hallway or garage is good. They need as much air circulation as possible, so if you can, hang them up in an old T-shirt, pair of tights (clean, preferably) or in a hessian sack.

Wherever your squash are stored, if you begin to see signs of decay like the marks on this tiny Jack Be Little pumpkin, take it as a warning that this fellow needs using NOW. I always put pumpkins like this on the kitchen counter to remind me to work them into that night's meal. This one is going to be roasted with extra virgin olive oil and cardamom and coriander seeds as a side vegetable on my dinner plate tonight: once the small area of decay is cut away, the rest of the orange flesh should still be firm and delicious.

And seeing as pumpkin is top of the list of superfoods, I'd be a fool to waste it ...