Aug 13 2008
Monster Fruit Dominates Organic Garden. News at 11.
Today, we finally pulled the monstrous zucchini (courgette) off the plant. I let my daughter do the honours, as it was her plant from school. I’m a bit green when it comes to the whole zucchini “thing”, which is odd. I live in Ontario, Canada, and in our cottage country area, it’s a rare garden that doesn’t have a row of them.
We let ours get awfully large, for two reasons. Firstly, If we’ve not been using the barbeque, we’ve been eating anything with very little prep. Secondly, my daughter thinks she is the most awesome gardener EVER for growing a zucchini bigger than her head.
When friends and family found out that I’m a zucchini first-timer, everyone had recipes and suggestions. I’m partial to garlic and butter, and a quick dance around a frying pan with old favorites sounded appealing.
Alas, Wikipedia tells me that now it will be more fibrous and perhaps a little less appetizing. We should have picked it when it reached about 20cm (8″) as at that point its seeds would still have been soft.
I think that it’s going to have to have it’s seeds scooped, pulp shredded and baked into bread. There’s another fruit already growing on the plant, and we’ll be sure to catch THAT one before it becomes big enough to name.
Monster zucchini captured by 7 year old.
Since I’m such a “newbie” to zucchini, feel free to suggest your favorite zucchini recipes!
Lori Petroff
Hi Lori,
It just so happens that I am making a ratatouille from the zucchini and eggplant from our CSA share (Community Supported Agriculture). If it works out well, I will post the recipe tomorrow. It is, as usual, another experiment in my kitchen.
Lori! Great article. I’m in Ontario too and as a matter of fact I have two rows of zucchini growing in my garden. Don’t worry if they get a bit bigger, they’re still great to eat. One of my favorite ways is in a zucchini loaf. Just use your favorite banana bread recipe and replace the bananas with grated and well drained zucchini. Really good. The second way to use the large ones is in a zucchini lasagne. Peel and cut in half, if the seeds are large scoop them out, then slice the zucchini into long strips with your peeler, sprinkle with a tablespoon of salt, set aside for 15 minutes, now follow your favorite lasagne recipe. Good with either mozza or cheddar cheese. Drain and rinse zucchini slices and replace the lasagne noodles with the zucchini. If you don’t have enough zucchini just use it for one layer… My family loves it either way with a meaty sauce or the vegetarian version. regards Suzanne
How great to garden with your daughter! We did tomatoes and sunflowers this year. We check on them everyday.
Thanks Suzanne for the serving suggestions. I’m sure by the end of the summer, I’ll be a pro with this fruit.
Judy… my kitchen usually has more experiments going on that not, too!
We also did tomatoes this year, some short season watermelon, and two pumpkin vines… just so we can cut out faces!