Calories in Squash, spaghetti, peeled, seeded

What makes squash so powerful?

Spaghetti squash (Cucurbita pepo) belongs to the same species as zucchini and pumpkins, but it carries a rare genetic mutation affecting its fruit structure. Unlike other winter squashes that store energy as dense, uniform flesh, spaghetti squash develops enlarged, specialized parenchyma cells arranged in distinct, longitudinal fibers. When the squash is cooked, heat breaks down the pectin and hemicellulose binding these cells together, allowing the flesh to separate into distinct, noodle-like strands. This structural anomaly was first documented in China around 1850, and seeds were later brought to Japan by an agricultural researcher before making their way to the United States in the 1930s. Because of this unique cellular architecture, scraping a fork across the cooked interior literally shreds the fruit along its natural cellular fault lines, creating the namesake "spaghetti" without any actual grain processing. The strands are mostly water—about 90 percent—making it exceptionally low in calories compared to traditional wheat pasta.