Everything about Courgette totally explained
Zucchini (in
North American and
Australian English) or
courgette (/kʊɚˈʒɛt/, in
New Zealand and
British English) is a small summer
squash. Along with some other squashes, it belongs to the species
Cucurbita pepo. The zucchini can be yellow, green or light green, and generally has a similar shape to a ridged
cucumber, though a few cultivars are available that produce round or bottle-shaped fruit. On a culinary level, zucchini is treated as a
vegetable, which means it's usually cooked and presented as a savory dish or accompaniment. Botanically, however, the zucchini is an immature
fruit, being the swollen
ovary of the female zucchini flower.
Flower
The female flower is a golden blossom on the end of each baby zucchini. The male flower grows directly on the stem of the zucchini plant in the leaf axils (where leaf
petiole meets
stem), on a long stalk, and is slightly smaller than the female. Both flowers are edible, and are often used to dress a meal or garnish the cooked fruit.
Firm and fresh blossoms that are only slightly open are cooked to be eaten, with
pistils removed from female flowers, and
stamens removed from male flowers. The stem on the flowers can be retained as a way of giving the cook something to hold onto during cooking, rather than injuring the delicate petals, or they can be removed prior to cooking, or prior to serving. There are a variety of recipes in which the flowers may be deep fried as fritters or tempura (after dipping in a light tempura batter), stuffed, sautéed, baked, or used in soups.
In Mexico, zucchini is often used for a light cream soup,
sopa de flor de calabaza, and it's quite popular in a variation of the traditional
quesadillas, becoming
quesadillas de flor de calabaza. Zucchini is also used in a variety of other dishes (
rajas), and as a side dish ornament.
History and etymology
Zucchini, like all
summer squash, has its ancestry in the Americas. While most summer squash ― including the closely related
cocozelle, and
marrow ― were introduced to Europe during the time of European colonization of the Americas, zucchini is
European in origin, the result of spontaneously occurring
mutations (also called "sports"). In all probability, this occurred in the very late 19th century, probably near
Milan; early varieties usually included the names of nearby cities in their name. The alternate name
Courgette comes from the
French name of the fruit, with the same spelling, and is used in France,
Ireland, and the
United Kingdom. It is a
diminutive of
courge, French for squash. "Zucca" is the
Italian word for squash; while the feminine diminutive plural "zucchine" is preferred in most regions of Italy, the masculine diminutive plural "zucchini" is used in some areas of
Italy,
Australia, and the
United States. The first records of zucchini in the United States date to the early 1920s. It was almost certainly brought over by Italian immigrants, and probably first emerged in the United States in
California.
Cooking
When used for food, zucchini are usually picked when the
seeds are soft and immature, seldom over 8in/20cm in length. Mature zucchini can be as much as three feet long, but are often fibrous and not appetizing to eat. Zucchini with the flowers attached are a sign of a truly fresh and immature fruit, and are especially sought by many people.
Unlike
cucumber, zucchini are usually served cooked. It can be prepared using a variety of cooking techniques, including steamed, boiled, grilled, stuffed and baked, barbecued, fried, or incorporated in other recipes such as
souffles. It also can be baked into a bread. Its
flowers can be eaten stuffed and is a delicacy when deep fried as
tempura.
The zucchini has a delicate rather than strong flavor requiring little more than quick cooking with
butter or
olive oil, with or without fresh
herbs. The skin is left in place. Quick cooking of barely wet zucchini in oil or butter allows the vegetable to partially boil and steam, with the juices concentrated in the final moments of frying when the water has gone, prior to serving. Zucchini can also be eaten raw, sliced or shredded in a cold salad, as well as hot and barely cooked in hot salads, as in
Thai or
Vietnamese recipes.
Zucchini fruit should be stored not longer than three days. They are prone to chilling damage which is expressed as sunken pits in the surface of the fruit especially when brought up to
room temperature after cool storage.
In
2005, a poll of 2,000 people revealed the zucchini to be the
Britain's 10th favorite culinary vegetable. In
Mexico, the flower (known as
Flor de Calabaza) is preferred over the vegetable, and is often cooked in soups or used as a filling for
quesadillas. In
El Salvador,
calabaza is a common ingredient in
pupusas, usually with
cheese as
calabaza y queso.
In
Italy, zucchini are served in a variety of ways, especially breaded and pan-fried. Some restaurants in Rome specialize in deep-frying the flowers, known as
fiori di zucca.
In
France zucchini is a key ingredient in
Ratatouille, a stew of summer vegetables in olive oil, cooked for an extended time over low heat. The dish, originating around an area known as present day
Nice is served as a side dish or on its own at lunch with bread.
In
Turkish cuisine zucchini is the main ingredient in the popular dish mücver, or "zucchini pancakes", made from shredded zucchini, flour and eggs, lightly fried in
olive oil and eaten with yogurt.
In
Libya, after being emptied, zucchini is stuffed with minced meat and rice plus herbs and spices and steamed. It is also used to make various kinds of stew.
In
Greece, zucchini is usually fried or boiled with other vegetables. It is served as a Hors d'œuvre, or during fasting seasons as a main dish. In several parts of Greece the flowers of the plant are stuffed with white cheese, usually
feta or
Mizithra cheese, or with a mixture of rice and herbs. Then they're deep-fried, or, less often, baked in the oven with tomato sauce.
Nutrition
The zucchini vegetable is low in
calories (approximately 15 food calories per 100
g fresh zucchini) and contains useful amounts of
folate (24
mcg/100 g),
potassium (280
mg/100 g) and
vitamin A (384
IU [115mcg]/100 g. 1/2 cup of zucchini also contains 19% of the recommended amount of
manganese.
Cultivation
Zucchini is one of the easiest vegetables to cultivate in
temperate climates. As such, it has a reputation among home
gardeners for overwhelming production. One good way is to harvest the flowers, which are a very expensive delicacy in markets because of the difficulty in storing and transporting them. The male flower is borne on the end of a stalk and is longer-lived.
While easy to grow, zucchini, like all squash, requires plentiful
bees for
pollination. In areas of
pollinator decline or high
pesticide use, such as
mosquito spray districts, gardeners often experience fruit abortion, where the fruit begins to grow, then dries or rots. This is due to an insufficient number of pollen grains delivered to the female flower, and can be corrected by hand pollination or by increasing the bee population.
Closely related to zucchini are Lebanese summer squash or
kusa, but they often are lighter green or even white. Some seed catalogs don't even distinguish them.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Courgette'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://zucchini.totallyexplained.com">Zucchini Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
