Produce Guide - Z

Zucchini and Other Summer Squash

Zucchini is the most familiar summer squash. People with vegetable gardens are well-acquainted with zucchini - as are their families, friends, and neighbours, who are on the receiving end of the plant's overwhelming bounty. Most of us groan at the sight of zucchini by early September, although a month later we're happy enough to see them in the supermarket and glad that they're available all winter long. Other summer squash, which are distinguished from their winter elders by their tender, digestible skins and succulent flesh, include the crookneck and the pattypan squash.

Because we've grown so used to them, it is odd to realize that zucchini have been a familiar sight to most North Americans for only about 30 years. Before that, you might have seen them at Italian specialty markets, or on a holiday in the Mediterranean, where they have long been prized for their versatility and delicate flavour. In North America we call them zucchini - meaning small gourds - because they arrived with Italian immigrants, while the Brits still know them by their French name, courgette - "small marrow" - which is basically what they are.

There are numerous varieties of zucchini, but the two most commonly available are the Italian-style zucchini - slender, sometimes ridged, and either straight or slightly curved, with glossy, mottled green skin - and the Middle Eastern variety, which is paler in colour and more blocky in shape. The Italian ones have a faintly nutty flavour, and the Middle Eastern are sweeter. The bright yellow zucchini has slightly firmer flesh than the green variety but is otherwise similar.

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