Featured Plant: Summer Squash
Friday July 3, 2009
With summer squash, it’s either feast or famine. Summer squash, which includes zucchini, yellow straight and crookneck and the flying saucer-shaped pattypan, is usually thought of as prolific. Who doesn’t have a story about leaving bags of zucchini on your neighbor’s back step under cloak of darkness? But these same enthusiastic yielders can be frustratingly slow to get it in gear. Squash plants produce both male and female flowers and they tend to start off the season by producing a lot of male flowers only. So it can seem like your plants are getting ready to set fruit, but the flowers just fall off and leave you with nothing. Be patient. Once the plant is strong enough to support growing fruits, the female blossoms will appear and get the job done.
The term summer squash was coined because these squash varieties aren’t good for long term storage. Their short shelf life and perpetual harvest means you’ll need a lot of good squash recipes. If you’d care to share your favorite, I’m sure it would be more than welcome. It’s summer squash season.
Photo: kyra / stock.xchng
Comments
How can I freeze zucchini for quick bread for the winter? I plan on
grating it so cannot steam it. Thanks janet
You should grate it before you freeze it. Wash it first, then grate. Blanch for a minute or 2, until it become translucent. Then let it cool.
Measure out what you’ll need for the recipes and freeze in those amounts. If you’re unsure how much you’ll need, then freeze 1 cup per bag or container, so you have some options.