Which winter squash soup may be served as a Thanksgiving appetizer?

A winter squash soup that may be served as a Thanksgiving appetizer is butternut soup.

Butternut soup is made from butternut squash, a smooth-skinned winter squash with sweet, nutty orange flesh. The squash is commonly roasted or simmered, then puréed with stock; onions, cream, sage, thyme, nutmeg, or cinnamon may be added. Its velvety texture makes it a natural small first course before the main meal.

Butternut squash is a modern variety of Cucurbita moschata. Charles Leggett developed it in Massachusetts in the 1940s by crossing pumpkin and gooseneck squash varieties. Although botanically a fruit, it is used as a vegetable in dishes such as soups, casseroles, and breads.

A common mix-up is confusing butternut soup with pumpkin soup. Both can appear at Thanksgiving, and butternut squash is sometimes included in broadly labeled pumpkin or squash soups, but they are not identical ingredients. Butternut soup is also distinct from cold gazpacho and beet-based borscht.