You see it almost everywhere — chances are there’s more than one stand at your local farmers’ market that has piles of zucchini, that light to dark green summer squash that can grow 2 to 3 feet long and 8 to 10 inches in diameter! But bigger isn’t always better when it comes to zucchini!
For a tender, juicy fruit (yes, zucchini is a fruit!) select one that is about six to eight inches long —large zucchini has less flavor and more water, and the seeds are large. Look for an even color, and the darker green the better; the deeper the color, the deeper the flavor. The skin should be glossy and you want the zucchini to have a slight stem on the end. Don’t store zucchini in a plastic bag because it can make the fruit slimy. Instead, opt for a brown paper bag and store it in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator.
So, why is there so much zucchini? It’s easy to grow. It can grow in almost any soil and it flowers more than most other plants. Each of those blossoms that are pollinated grows into another new zucchini. It also has a long growing season; if you pick one zucchini off the vine, the vine just grows another squash. Over the course of one growing season, one plant can produce six to 10 pounds of zucchini!
There are almost as many recipes for how to cook zucchini as there are zucchini; an internet search shows sites that offer “36 things to do with zucchini,” “49 Sensational Zucchini Recipes,” even “80+ Best Zucchini Recipes.” You can fry it, bake it, stuff it, grill it, spiral it to use as a low-carb pasta substitute, make it into fritters, use it for manicotti, even make loaded zucchini skins.
If your kids aren’t zucchini fans (or fans of vegetables, in general), zucchini bread is a great way to make a tasty snack a little healthier. This receipe is from www.butterwithasideofbread.com
Best Ever Zucchini Bread
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil (you can substitute applesauce for ½ the oil)
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups grated zucchini (you can add a little more, I always do!)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- Grease two 8 x 4 inch bread pansor 6 mini loaf plans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Assemble your ingredients. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, soda, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a bowl.
- Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. {I always sneak in a few spoonfuls of flax!}
- Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir until combined.
- Grate zucchini. Stir into the mixture along with the nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. My mini-loaf pans take about 35-40 minutes. Large sized loaves take about 55 minutes.
- Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool. Enjoy!
Photo Credit: auntmasako Via Pixabay