I do cure mine before I bake them, I've been told they won't ripen any more but they seem sweeter when I cure them. And, of course, I store some in my "root celler", which is actually just an unheated room in my house, but they'll stay good in there until March or April, and those definitely need to be cured to toughen the peel.

Annie

Thanks annie. How long would you wait to bake the ones you don't store? I noticed that the ones last year that I let sit until February weren't nearly as sweet as the ones I did in November and December.

I've already baked some, because I just don't have room to store them all. They do lose flavor in storage but they are always better than the imposters I can buy at the grocery store. So, I'll cure them for a couple of weeks, maybe even 3, and then start using them.

I just bake the ones which have broken stems or bad spots, because they will not store for any time, and then I make sure I sort through periodically and just bake and freeze as it become apparent that one is not going to "keep".

Annie

Thanks Annie!