— Joyce Drennon

I will share a couple of thoughts that come to mind, and the first also involves a safety consideration. I, I don't, you know, I wanna avoid any cuts. So generally I try to cut the item in half place that cut side down, so it's stable. So that's the safety concern that's, uh, checked off my list. So then, um, I can get a, a knife and I can make slices around the edge as I rotate the squash to, to remove that, that hard skin or hard peel. Keep in mind also that as you're working with these very dense, these hard products, you know, like pumpkins, that a, a thin bladed knife risks chipping, okay? Now, I've seen this a number of times, so, you know, do, do keep this in mind. Um, I recommend using a heavier knife when working with ingredients like this. Okay? Now, the, uh, other thing that comes to mind is, um, that, especially with items squashed that have an irregular surface, the, the method that I just mentioned works well for me, for a squash that have a smooth surface like butternut, a peeler can work well. And I have a peeler that works very well on butternut squash. It just follows the smooth, you know, contours of the squash, and there's minimal loss of flesh as well. And so, you know, that's, that's a very nice, uh, way to, to do that. But for other things, i, I will use a knife. So please consider those two methods, keeping in mind safety as well.