Monday, June 16, 2008

Zucchini

Saturday the female blossom opened on my zucchini. There were no bees around so I fertilized it by hand to make sure. The blossom closed up after noon. Sunday I picked the 5" zucchini. I've never grown them before, other squash yes, but not zucchini. It is just amazing how fast these little buggers grow. When I saw how big it was on Sunday I figured I had better pick it because if it doubled in size after the first 24 hours, it might do it again. I certainly didn't want a massive zucchini. I'm actually not a zucchini fan, despite my great desire to see it start producing. I figure they are too easy to grow and I'll have to learn to love them.

Now before you tell me I'm crazy to change my tastes as an adult, I've done it before - and failed before so no guarantee. I used to have issues going on play dates with my kids when they were little. Usually the other moms would offer everyone something to drink: coffee, tea, milk, soda. I really hated all those drinks. I grew up on water (good water from the Colorado mountains, not the stuff they call water here in Boston). They didn't like water as an answer (this was before bottled water was big). They seemed very upset by having to give me water. I think they were worried that they didn't have what I really wanted, so kept looking in their fridge for something else I would drink. I taught myself to like tea so I could be more socially normal. It took a little while and I used lots of sugar and milk to start off, slowly weaning myself of the addins. I tried to learn to drink coffee too, but lattes and mochas (with soy milk only, they taste awful with cow's milk) are the best I can stomach. I still don't drink most sodas and don't even try me on diet drinks. Ick.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming - zucchini. I thought about how to start eating zucchini. I figured that I sometimes eat them in Chinese food. When they are all sauced up they really don't taste like zucchini. I ended up making Thai chicken. Yum. The zucchini were fabulous, but of course I couldn't taste them at all. I could only taste the spicy sauce. None of the rest of my family would touch the zucchini so I had it all to myself.

Today the next female blossom opened up, though it doesn't look all that happy about it. It has been raining and the male blossoms are full of water. I wonder if it will be pollinated. They don't seem to stay open for very long and again there are no bees. I tried to hand pollinate, but really with all the wet plant parts, I'm not sure if it will take.

6 comments:

  1. Loved the "what would you like to drink?" anecdote. I think it's hilarious that you had to force yourself to drink tea to keep your friends (or your kids' friends) happy.

    I never especially liked zucchini either, but I've become a convert. I'll eat them in omlettes (chopped small and sauteed w. other vegies first) and one of our favorite veggie dishes is assorted sauteed vegetables--just about any two or three (or four) from a list that includes zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, red onion, carrot, and red pepper. We usually season them with thyme, or oregano, or summer savory along with salt and pepper. And if any of those zucchinis do get away from you and grow to be as long as your arm--zucchini bread. With chocolate chips, if you really want to disguise the stuff.

    Enjoy yours--
    Kate

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  2. I actually love zucchini, but I can relate. I do not like peppers very much, but I keep trying to like them. I've convinced myself that I like red, yellow and orange and just not green ones. I"m not sure that this is true. I think that I want to like them, so I've convinced myself of this...anyway, my favorite way to eat zucchini is in place of spaghetti. I eat it with tomato sauce and meatballs. Zucchini bread is wonderful and really the best option when the zucchini gets out of control at the height of the summer.

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  3. I'm actually looking forward to zucchini bread. It is the one way I loved zucchini as a kid.

    As spaghetti? Hmm I do like spaghetti squash. It might well be similar. If zucchini lives up to its name, I'll have a million chances to try it different ways.

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  4. I love them cut in pieces,tossed in olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar and roasted in the oven.
    The trick is never to let zucchini grow to big (no more than 5 inches long)otherwise you'll be overwhelmed once they really start producing. At that point I find making soup is the only answer:-)

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  5. I can see that they would just dissolve in soup so that would be a good way to use them at the end of summer when I tend to make lots of soups.

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  6. Your post made me laugh! I am yet another commenter who doesn't like zucchini. I haven't given in to the tempation of growing it yet, but I do have a bad habit of finding a zucchni recipe and thinking this could be THE ONE that makes me love it. Of course it never is! My family raises such a fuss now anytime I try to cook that I think I've finally "learned."

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