What kind of zucchini is this?

[beansprouts]

(Stop laughing, Doran, I am talking about a vegetable!)

Every year my mother brings me surplus from her garden. There are usually several baseball-bat sized zucchini. However, these are different from the zucchini I know. Their skins cook up tough and the texture is stringy like a winter squash and not tender. What are these and what can I cook with them?

[Doran]

(Stop laughing, Doran, I am talking about a vegetable!)

Every year my mother brings me surplus from her garden. There are usually several baseball-bat sized zucchini. However, these are different from the zucchini I know. Their skins cook up tough and the texture is stringy like a winter squash and not tender. What are these and what can I cook with them?



What do you take me for? Baseball-bat sized zucchini are no laughing matter! :scared:


What color is this mystery zuke? Solid green? Striped? Pale green and a bit fuzzy? Any chance it is a gourd disguised as a squash? Any chance you could post a photo?

If it is a squash that has simply been picked too late, it's often best to grate it and cook it into breads or fritters of some sort.

[beansprouts]

It is solid green. Looks like a regular zucchini. She brings them every year. Maybe they have simply matured too long.

[sdWTMer]

It is solid green. Looks like a regular zucchini. She brings them every year. Maybe they have simply matured too long.

How many inches are they? I've read that you should harvest them when they are about 6 inches or so, but I'm sure that Doran knows more than I. ;)

[beansprouts]

How many inches are they? I've read that you should harvest them when they are about 6 inches or so, but I'm sure that Doran knows more than I. ;)

:smilielol5:

You know it's impossible to discuss ANYTHING with a straight face anymore.

They are about 18 to 24 inches long.

[sdWTMer]

:smilielol5:

You know it's impossible to discuss ANYTHING with a straight face anymore.

They are about 18 to 24 inches long.

Oh horrors...my mind didn't even think about it. :D Wow, I really cut mine early then.

There's just no way of talking about this with a straight face. Oy.

[Parrothead]

You know, I was thinking this was a real zucchini thread. Personally I think zucchini should be cut at the 6-8 inch mark. Anything else is just bragging.

[beansprouts]

You know, I was thinking this was a real zucchini thread. Personally I think zucchini should be cut at the 6-8 inch mark. Anything else is just bragging.


But this IS a real zucchini thread! The green kind! REALLY!!

[sdWTMer]

You know, I was thinking this was a real zucchini thread. Personally I think zucchini should be cut at the 6-8 inch mark. Anything else is just bragging.

:lol:

[Doran]

Oh horrors...my mind didn't even think about it. :D Wow, I really cut mine early then.

There's just no way of talking about this with a straight face. Oy.


But, particularly when you start off the discussion with the phrase "harvest when they are about 6". :blink:



Sounds to me like overgrown zucchini. Although the "stringy" part leaves me a little stumped.




Stop laughing. Now.

[Prairie~Phlox]

Does it look like this http://www.humeseeds.com/zuker.htm
Phlox

[gardening momma]

Ok, talking about real zucchini here, and not the hypothetical kind, my gardening magazine last month said that zucchini should be picked when you can no longer indent it with your fingernail (as opposed to summer squash, which should be picked while you can still dent it with your nail).

But I don't know how long is too long to wait...guess it should be picked as soon as possible after the skin toughens.

[beansprouts]

Does it look like this http://www.humeseeds.com/zuker.htm
Phlox

Same color wrong shape.

[beansprouts]

Ok, talking about real zucchini here, and not the hypothetical kind, my gardening magazine last month said that zucchini should be picked when you can no longer indent it with your fingernail (as opposed to summer squash, which should be picked while you can still dent it with your nail).

But I don't know how long is too long to wait...guess it should be picked as soon as possible after the skin toughens.


Then maybe this is zucchini, and maybe what I am expecting is more like a green summer squash? What is the flesh like? Is it white and stringy or more translucent and buttery-tender?

[clwcain]

:smilielol5:

You know it's impossible to discuss ANYTHING with a straight face anymore.

They are about 18 to 24 inches long.

I feel so inadequate.

[Prairie~Phlox]

Hmmm,.,,,,,here's a bunch of different ones: http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm

Phlox

[Parrothead]

... my gardening magazine last month said that zucchini should be picked when you can no longer indent it with your fingernail (as opposed to summer squash, which should be picked while you can still dent it with your nail).


I've never had zucchini like that. Any I've ever grown or bought has had a fairly soft skin along the lines of a summer squash.

I'm thinking if it is the size of a baseball bat that it has gotten too big.

[sdWTMer]

Ok, talking about real zucchini here, and not the hypothetical kind, my gardening magazine last month said that zucchini should be picked when you can no longer indent it with your fingernail (as opposed to summer squash, which should be picked while you can still dent it with your nail).


What do you do if you don't have fingernails because you bite them?!? http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/sdwtmer/icon_nervous.gif

:D

[beansprouts]

I've never had zucchini like that. Any I've ever grown or bought has had a fairly soft skin along the lines of a summer squash.

I'm thinking if it is the size of a baseball bat that it has gotten too big.

I had a similar experience with yellow crookneck squash which I grew last year. The flesh was stringy and the skin was hard like a shell and inedible. I was expecting both to be tender. I did pick these at 6 to 8 inches long.

[beansprouts]

I feel so inadequate.

*Cindy throws a green tomato at Chris*

[Doran]

Then maybe this is zucchini, and maybe what I am expecting is more like a green summer squash? What is the flesh like? Is it white and stringy or more translucent and buttery-tender?

Summer squash and zucchini have become interchangeable terms, but most farmers know them as two different crops. I'm not familiar with a recommendation that "our" zucchini ever be harvested when skins have toughened. I'd like to know more about that. The stringy part is still what leaves me scratching my head and thinking maybe this is some sort of gourd-thing.

Does it look like any of these?

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:4OWhF6vY8OAbyM:http://www.seasonalchef.com/070707g.jpg

[beansprouts]

Hmmm,.,,,,,here's a bunch of different ones: http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm

Phlox


I see a lot of good ideas here, but none of them resemble my squash.

[Doran]

I feel so inadequate.


According to Parrothead, anything past 6-8" is just bragging. :D

[beansprouts]

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:4OWhF6vY8OAbyM:http://www.seasonalchef.com/070707g.jpg

They look like the one on the far right.

[Parrothead]

I had a similar experience with yellow crookneck squash which I grew last year. The flesh was stringy and the skin was hard like a shell and inedible. I was expecting both to be tender. I did pick these at 6 to 8 inches long.
One could almost slice crookneck squash with a butter knife. It should be thinner than cucumber skin. Maybe too much or not enough water/rain.

[Nicole M]

I see a lot of good ideas here, but none of them resemble my squash.

Honey, I think you're just going to have to post a picture. But remember, this is a family-friendly site, so try to keep it G-rated.

[Parrothead]

They look like the one on the far right.
Looks like a zucchini to me. So does the one on the far left. I couldn't tell you what type of zucchini it is though.

[gardening momma]

Then maybe this is zucchini, and maybe what I am expecting is more like a green summer squash? What is the flesh like? Is it white and stringy or more translucent and buttery-tender?

I'm not an expert by any means, but I don't think there is any green summer squash--I think they're all yellow. I don't know about the color either...my experience with the two is that it seems that zucchini tends to be more tender, while summer squash seeds tend to be bigger. I had an overgrown summer squash this summer, and it was rock hard rather than stringy.

I would think, though, that a stringy zucchini would be too old.

Ok, I got my magazine out, and I think I misinterpreted something. It's an article called "Harvest Hints". It doesn't mention zucchini, it lists summer squash, then "winter squash", which is different from zucchini (duh, I knew that, sorry). So the time to harvest zucchini is probably the same for summer squash, "when you can easily dent the rind with your fingernail."

[beansprouts]

Summer squash and zucchini have become interchangeable terms, but most farmers know them as two different crops. I'm not familiar with a recommendation that "our" zucchini ever be harvested when skins have toughened. I'd like to know more about that. The stringy part is still what leaves me scratching my head and thinking maybe this is some sort of gourd-thing.

Does it look like any of these?

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:4OWhF6vY8OAbyM:http://www.seasonalchef.com/070707g.jpg

Or it could be the one on the left. The skin is green and speckled like the round squash Phlox posted.

[beansprouts]

Honey, I think you're just going to have to post a picture. But remember, this is a family-friendly site, so try to keep it G-rated.


Fine, but I need to wait for dh to come home...

So I can use his camera :lol:

[Spy Car]

Cindy, regular zucchini will get really big if not picked in time. Sounds like what you have.

They will never be "peak" because they have gone too far. If you do want to salvage them the best way is to cut them in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh in the center and try to leave the "meatier" flesh closer to the skin. You can then "stuff" the squash with rice, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, meat, mushrooms, or what-ever, and bake them.

Bill

[clwcain]

Cindy, regular zucchini will get really big if not picked in time. Sounds like what you have.

They will never be "peak" because they have gone too far. If you do want to salvage them the best way is to cut them in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh in the center and try to leave the "meatier" flesh closer to the skin. You can then "stuff" the squash with rice, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, meat, mushrooms, or what-ever, and bake them.

Bill

mmm...stuffed zucchini...
Stop that, Doran and Beansprouts! :lol:

[beansprouts]

Cindy, regular zucchini will get really big if not picked in time. Sounds like what you have.

They will never be "peak" because they have gone too far. If you do want to salvage them the best way is to cut them in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh in the center and try to leave the "meatier" flesh closer to the skin. You can then "stuff" the squash with rice, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, meat, mushrooms, or what-ever, and bake them.

Bill

That is how I usually cook them, but it isn't quite the same as when the flesh is tender and buttery.

[beansprouts]

Ugh!!

Nothing to see here, move along now...