Although the best-known zucchini have dark green skin, there are varieties with golden yellow or pale green skin, such as the Lebanese variety pictured here.
Cucurbita pepo
Also known as courgette, marrow
These easy-to-grow summer vegetables are so productive that many gardeners find themselves swamped with the output. In the UK, zucchini is often referred to as summer marrow, along with summer squash, tromboncini, and ornamental forms known as gourds. They are tastiest and at their best when picked young.
Although the best-known zucchini have dark green skin, there are varieties with golden yellow or pale green skin, such as the Lebanese variety pictured here.
Zucchini is one of the easiest and most productive vegetables to grow, but you can have a glut of them at the same time everyone else does. Have a good range of recipes ready so you can preserve or freeze them to enjoy when other crops slow their production.
Sow seeds into warm, well-prepared, fertile soil in spring when the risk of frost is over. Plant two or three seeds in each hole and thin to the strongest seedling once they have germinated. Bush varieties take up less space, at around 1 sq m (1 sq yd) each, while the trailing varieties can be trained over a trellis or frames. One plant can produce large quantities of fruit over two months—you will need only one or two plants for a family. They can fruit in as little as 50 to 60 days, so midseason sowing will give you zucchini into autumn. The young fruit can be cut from the vine with the flower still attached and these zucchini flowers can be used in the kitchen for stuffing and other culinary delicacies.
Problems Zucchini are prone to powdery mildew, so ensure good air circulation; if watering overhead, water in the morning so foliage dries rapidly. Mites and whitefly can also affect plants under stress.
Harvesting The key is to harvest fruit regularly, every day or two, when young, soft, and tender and around 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long. Fruit left on the plant will rapidly achieve mammoth proportions. Allowing a plant to produce these large fruit could halt flowering and production of more fruit, but if grown in good soil, this is less likely. Young fruit can be steamed or stir-fried. Once they get big, zucchini become tough and are better stuffed or baked, made into pickles, or grated for use in cakes. Fresh zucchini will keep in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days.
Zucchini flowers are harvested with the small developing fruit attached. Use a knife to cut through the zucchini stalk.
Black Beauty is a popular home garden variety with very dark green, almost black skin, similar but more productive than Black Jack. Gold Rush has lovely golden yellow skin, while Lebanese zucchini are light green and slightly teardrop in shape. Costata Romanesco is an Italian variety with ribbed fruit, which makes star-shaped slices when cut across. There are also gray-skinned varieties and some that are round instead of long.
Tromboncino is an interesting vegetable with pale lime skin and a bulbous end. Although best picked when young and tender, at around 20–25 cm (8–10 in) long, it can grow up to 1 m (3 ft) long.
Zucchini should have firm, smooth, shiny skin and fresh-looking, firm stem ends. Zucchini are crisp when freshly picked but become flaccid over time, so make sure they are still firm. Store in a loosely sealed plastic bag in the crisper section of the fridge for up to 3 days. Larger fruit with thicker, tougher skin will keep longer.
One cup (180 grams) of cooked zucchini provides 3 grams of fiber and just 29 calories—making this vegetable a filling, slimming choice if you’re watching your weight. It also delivers a healthy dose of vitamins A, C, and K, along with essential minerals magnesium, potassium, copper, and manganese. The soluble fiber found in zucchini helps reduce LDL cholesterol by carrying it out of your body before it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. Zucchini also contains choline, a type of vitamin B that looks after cell membranes and helps nerve signals reach your muscles.
The word “zucchini” comes from an Italian word meaning “little squashes.”
Zucchini has a delicate flavor and requires little more than quick cooking in butter or olive oil, with the skin left on. It can also be battered and fried, steamed, or added to soups, stews, and pasta sauces.
Zucchini flowers may be stuffed and baked or deep-fried, or they can be dipped in tempura batter and fried. They also make a lovely garnish or pizza topping.
See our recipe for Stuffed zucchini flowers.
Gourds
Gourds belong to the Cucurbitaceae family. These annual vines produce interesting fruits in a range of colors, sizes, and dramatic shapes. They come in edible and ornamental varieties, which are allowed to mature fully on the vine and dry. Then they are picked and dried further indoors for long-term storage. They can be used in artwork or arranged in a bowl for a decorative display.
Preparing zucchini flowers
