Emergency substitution!!!!

HELP!!! I can't find CALABAZA - a tropical kind of pumpkin - for one of the meals I'm making. Is there a substitute for this? This is an emergency since I have less than a day to get this and have been looking for it for almost a week!!

Hello! Isn't that an awful feeling, when you're in need of an unusual ingredient?

The calabaza is a pumpkin-like squash popular throughout the Caribbean as well as Central and South America. Also called a West Indian pumpkin, it is round and can range in size from as large as a watermelon to as small as a cantaloupe. The skin ranges in color from green to pale tan to light red-orange. Its flesh is a brilliant orange.

Successful substitutions:

Butternut Squash
Acorn Squash

Good luck!

[Nicko]

Since you are in Chicago I would suggest contacting Tom Corneille of Corneille and Sons. They sell a lot of specialty produce and they might have what you are looking for. If not they could at least probably point you in the right direction. Corneille and Sons is located in the heart of Chicago's historic South Water Market.

Hope that helps.

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Thanks,

Nicko
nicko@cheftalk.com

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I'll see if how the substitutes work!

What part of the world does your recipe come from? Calabaza, ordinarily, means simply calabash, pumpkin, squash, gourd, etc.

Originally posted by HBalasny:
HELP!!! I can't find CALABAZA - a tropical kind of pumpkin - for one of the meals I'm making. Is there a substitute for this? This is an emergency since I have less than a day to get this and have been looking for it for almost a week!!

[UniChef]

Check out this site for Caribbean Foods glossary- http://www.unichef.com/glossary.htm

You'll find it there.


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Mike Bersell, CEC
www.unichef.com

Thank you Chef Julie!!! The Acorn Squash worked great!